The Last Airbenders
by NinjaRiderWriter
Summary: Everyone was so sure that Avatar Aang was the last of the Air Nomads, the Last Airbender. But what if he wasn't? In the ruins of the Southern Air Temple, the newly formed Gaang stumble upon a young airbender, how much does one bender change the Avatar and his friends? And more importantly, how much will be changed?
1. Another Airbender

"…. I just can't believe it's all gone." A young boy whispered as a girl slightly older than him hugged him, trying to comfort the child who could only be around the age of twelve.

The boy was paler than his two friends, with blue arrow tattoos on his body, he wore a simple monk robe with golden yellow and orange fabric.

This child wasn't just any child. He was the Avatar. He was technically one hundred and twelve years old, due to spending a whole century trapped within an ice berg before being found and rescued by the girl and another boy who looked like the girls older brother.

"I know it's hard Aang, but we'll get through this. Together." The girl promised the bald monk, her blue eyes shinning with compassion… but also with pity. She grabbed Aang's hand and squeezed it in reassurance.

Aang's doe-like brown eyes stared at the waterbender with misty-eyes. It had been several minutes since he had discovered his guardian and mentor, Monk Gyasto, skeleton as well as the realization that everything from his old life, his people, his friends, his mentor. They were all gone, dead, never to come back, never again would Aang see them until he passed on as well.

When Aang had realized this, pure rage and grief took control of the normally happy-go-lucky Avatar. He had involuntary activated the Avatar State for the third time in his life. It was only because of Katara he hadn't completely leveled the ruins of his old home and throw his new friends off of the mountain.

Tears were still streaming down his cheeks as Aang hugged Katara even tighter, he couldn't help but give a small half-twitch of his lips as Katara ordered her brother Sokka to join in on the group hug, where the eldest of the group grumbled about group hugs not being manly and unwarrior-like.

He would always mourn his friends and teachers of his past, but he would learn to move on, he had a new family. These kids of the Southern Water Tribe, they had come after him when he was captured by the Fire Nation Prince Zuko, and had not abandoned him in his hour of need.

"Do you want to leave?" Katara asked the mourning monk gently, her voice soft saying that she wouldn't judge him if he wanted to leave this place, a home that now held nothing but the memories of the dead.

Aang rubbed his tears away with his arm. "No," Aang was happy that his voice didn't tremble even though anyone could hear the grief and pain laced within his tone. "I want to see one more thing before we leave."

"Is it a kitchen?" Sokka asked eagerly, already thinking with his stomach. "Maybe some century old cured meats? Or maybe some blubbered seal jerkey?"

"Sokka, the Air Nomads were vegetarians. They didn't eat meat." Katara told her brother with a deadpan.

Sokka sulked at the thought of not eating meat his whole life, something he deemed impossible and immoral.

"Where do you want to go, Aang?" Katara asked the Avatar.

Aang glanced up at the ruined tower that had been his home, his grey eyes foggy as he went down memory lane. A wide smile, though it looked slightly forced, appeared on Aang's face as he thought of where he wanted to go.

"Well there was always the courtyards where we used to practice airbending, not to mention my room. A hundred years later, it must be a wreck." He joked, though it was obvious he was still upset and if not for Sokka and Katara, his new family, he may as well have continued weeping for his now dead people.

Aang was quick to notice that Katara had yet to let go of his hand. "Well then, to the courtyards we go." She said cheerfully, eager to make Aang happy again and if not she would do anything to at least bring a little ray of sunshine in the thunderstorm of emotions going through the last Airbender.

Aang led them back to the center of the temple, he was noticeably less cheerful now that he realized what had happened but Katara knew that he was still somewhat happy to see pieces of his old home.

"Wait." Sokka held his hand in front of Katara to stop her. He tilted his head slightly and had a deep look of concentration as though he was trying to hear something.

Aang, who had been on top of a large pillar, jumped down using a small gust of wind to stop his momentum. "What's wrong, Sokka?" the Airbender asked.

"Shh!" Sokka hushed the twelve year old.

Katara crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Sokka, I doubt you can sense any meat up here." She said referring to the one time when they were kids where Sokka claimed he had something called a 'Meat Sense', it had taken several weeks for him to stop yelling that his meat senses were tingling whenever it was time for dinner.

"Not that Katara, listen." Sokka urged his sister, all the while straining his ears to whatever noise he heard.

Momo, who had been on Aang's shoulder, chittered something before tilting his large bat-like ears in the direction where Aang had said where the courtyards had been.

Before Katara could say anything, she heard it. A slight whooshing sound and the sound of something hitting stone. It was so faint that Katara would have thought it was just her imagination had not Sokka pointed it out.

"It's coming from over there!" Aang exclaimed as he started to run towards the place the sound was coming from, eagerly wondering if it was another flying lemur like Momo or maybe even a flying bison to keep Appa company!

"Yes, lets just run _towards_ the area with the sounds in this haunted temple," Sokka said sarcastically but immediately started to sulk when he realized his objection was ignored and Katara and Aang were already ahead of him.

After a minute or so of running and jumping over the fallen remains of the temple they reached the top of a large staircase that wound down towards the courtyard. Aang suddenly stopped while Katara and Sokka quickly joined him, they immediately noticed what had made the airbender stop in his tracks.

Down in the courtyards was a person. A boy maybe around Sokka's age but it was hard to tell due to their high vantage point. The boy was going katas with such fluidness it was as though he was the wind itself.

The boy had not noticed them, and who would? This place was like a tomb, no one had been here for a hundred years, apparently that wasn't the case anymore.

Sokka was ready to yell down to the boy, probably thinking the boy was Fire Nation, when it happened.

The boy had given a quick punch in the direction of an overgrown bush, immediately a large gust of wind appeared out of his fist and smacked into the bush with such force that it ripped the plant from its roots and over the edge of the mountain.

Katara saw in the corner of her eye that Aang had stiffened as though he had been shocked. All three of them stood stock still as they continued to watch the bender, an _airbender,_ continuing his katas all the while using airbending to move rocks and plants to certain places.

The three noticed that once in a while the boy would use his bending skills to launch rocks at a wall, where he had made a makeshift bulls-eye on the wall with what appeared to be paint. The sounds they had heard earlier was no doubt him striking the wall in an attempt to get a bulls-eye.

"Sokka…. Katara…. He's an airbender!" Aang whispered in awe as he watched the boy continued his katas.

"Aang, calm down. Don't do anything stupid-" Sokka started to say before he was interrupted.

"Hello!" Aang yelled out as he jumped out of the cover of the trees they had been using to hide from the boy.

The airbender immediately stopped his moves and jumped ten feet in the air in surprise and shock.

Seeing this, Aang started to run down the stairs towards the airbender, one of his people, with a huge grin. All the grief and rage that had still been coursing through him had immediately left when he realized he was no longer alone.

"Aang! Come back!" Sokka yelled as he and Katara raced after the bald monk, who was halfway down the stairs.

"You're an airbender!" Aang exclaimed.

The boy had taken several steps backwards, his eyes wide with shock… and fear. The second Aang had said he was an airbender the boy took one look at the boy before turning tail and running away, a small dust cloud the only sign that he had been there at all.

"Hey- wait!" Aang called out as he chased after the airbender with the same speed, leaving the Southern Water Tribe siblings in the dust, literally.

The boy paid no attention to Aang and continued to race through the deserted and broken down temple, with great ease the boy jumped and flipped over obstacles as though he had known exactly where everything was.

"Come back!" Aang yelled as he realized the boy was getting farther and farther ahead of him. Aang narrowed his eyes in concentration and ran towards the wall, using his speed and momentum in a second Aang was now running on the ceiling.

"Leave me alone!" The boy yelled back. His deeper voice showing that he really was around Sokka's age. "Don't you Fire Nation ever give up!?"

Aang's eyes widened when he realized that the other airbender thought he was the Fire Nation, their enemy, the one who had destroyed their people and culture, leaving them all alone. "No, wait! You got it all wrong! I'm a friend."

"Like I'll fall for that trick!" The boy yelled, rage and pain so thick in his tone that it nearly made Aang misstep and stop completely. The boy slashed his hand at the wall and a force of wind erupted from his palm and hit a stone statue that was looking ready to crumble.

The second the burst of air hit the statue it immediately started to pitch forward, had Aang not been an airbender he would of instantly been crushed by the stone. Instead he merely flipped over it and continued his chase.

Aang was remembered that not even an hour or so ago he had been chasing Momo through the temple's halls, and now he was chasing an airbender through the temple. What was next, a stampede of sky bison?

"Please, stop!" Aang begged the airbender as both continued to jump over obstacles with ease and superhuman speed. Aang continued to dodge air blasts sent by the other bender, but the older boy never seemed to notice that Aang was able to dodge them and was running as fast as him. It seemed that in the boy's panic and fear of Aang being Fire Nation, he never once considered the fact the bold kid with airbending tattoos and the ability to run as fast as the other kid was in fact an airbender.

Suddenly the boy stopped, Aang saw why. They had run across the entire half of the temple grounds, they were now in what remained of the sky bison stables. A large circular tower that was the third largest tower in the whole temple.

The ceiling was open to the sky, allowing any sky bison to land within. The lower parts were actual stables with rotten food stalls, and walls. While the upper parts were merely floors and arches, open to the elements.

Aang realized why the boy had stopped, he didn't have a glider, meaning he couldn't continue to run. The boy turned around to face Aang, already in a fighting stance.

Aang held his hands out in surrender. "This is all a misunderstanding. I'm like you!" The Avatar said, hoping to not have to fight his new friend.

Aang noticed then that the boy had grey eyes, just like him and the now dead airbenders. But while he and those long gone had always been filled with mirth and a hint of mischief. This boy's eyes were instead as hard as steel, but Aang could see the pain and loneliness in those orbs.

"Those tattoos…" The boy muttered, the shadows now hiding his eyes but Aang could tell he was angry. "Those are a piece of my culture and my people, and you are disgracing them! Haven't you Fire Nation done enough!?" The boy spat out, he gritted his teeth as he got ready to blast the boy with air.

"Wait!" Aang cried out, "I'm an airbender too!" To further prove his point he quickly formed a ball of wind before standing on it like a top. "See! It's an air scooter! I made it myself a hundred years ago!" The young monk explained.

The boy instantly dropped his stance and instead opted to hang his mouth open that it nearly touched the dirty floor. Finally realization came to the other airbender when he heard the words 'hundred years ago'. "You're the Avatar!"

"Sure am!" Aang said happily, still on the air scooter.

"But that means… you're an airbender. An _actual_ airbender." The boy said excitedly at the prospect of no longer being alone.

"You are too," Aang pointed out.

The boy nodded his head in disbelief. "I always thought I was the last one," he muttered, Aang wasn't sure if he was actually supposed to hear this comment. "I've been here all alone in this temple for a year or so, and all of a sudden the Avatar pops up." The boy rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Oh right, sorry about trying to get rid of you when you were chasing me. I always thought that if anyone came here than it would be the Fire Nation."

Aang grinned, "don't worry, I guess I shouldn't have freaked you out." By then Aang had gotten off his air scooter and allowed the ball of condensed air disappear. An even bigger, if possible, smile stretched on his face. "Are there any more airbenders here?" he asked hopefully while looking around the stables as though expecting a dozen airbenders to pop out of the hay and yell 'Surprise!'.

Aang then finally noticed the appearance of the airbender. He was probably around Sokka's age, seeing as he was an inch or so taller than the Southern Water Tribe warrior but had a more lean and wiry build like Aang himself. His short hair was pitch black and seemed to spike upwards as though it defied gravity. Seeing as he _was_ an airbender it made sense, seeing as all airbenders laughed at something as silly as gravity when they were capable of flying.

He had a slight tan that resembled Aang, not as dark as Katara or Sokka, but not as pale as Zuko or Iroh, but enough for to be obvious that he had been in the sun a lot. His sharp grey eyes reminded him of the monks that had raised him, kind yet also filled with experience. But while most, if not all, monks eyes were full of mirth, his seemed to hold something akin to sadness and pain within them.

As for his clothing, the mysterious airbender wore a thick coat to keep him warm in the harsh climate that blew through the ruins of the Southern Air Temple. The coat was black and along with the leggings held a slight similarity to Sokka and Katara's outfit that was good for living in the South Pole. Obviously one could tell it was not made by someone from the Southern Tribe, but it was still similar.

Suddenly Aang could hear the patter of boots hitting the stone, and the second he turned around he saw Sokka and Katara round the corner, both were gasping for breath, their faces flushed from the hard running they had to do to be able to catch up with the airbenders.

Sokka slowly walked forward, his hand still grasped at his side as he felt a stich, "d-don't run off like that again." He managed to gasp out before collapsing against the stone wall.

Katara on the other hand was able to slow down her breathing enough so that she didn't look ready to collapse like her older brother. She turned her attention to the boy. "You're just like Aang."

"Aside from the fact that this kid is younger than me and definitely not a hundred years old, as well as the fact he's not bald, doesn't have tattoos, and doesn't appear to have a giant fluff monster with him," Sokka was quick to add in.

Katara her attention back to the confused airbender. "I'm Katara from the Southern Water Tribe, this idiot gasping on the floor is my brother Sokka. And I'm guessing Aang already introduced himself… what's your name?"

The boy seemed to hesitate before sending a quick look at Aang, as though making sure that he was actually there before saying, "Zhe… My name is Zhe."

"Nice to meet you Zhe!" Aang said happily.

Sokka, on the other hand, snickered. "Sting. Ahaha, that's a good one. Very intimidating, man your parents must have had a field day with that." He said with a wide grin.

Everyone noticed how Zhe's face turned pained, as though he remembered something he wish he could forget. Knowing that Sokka had either offended him, or had brought up bad memories, Katara instantly went into angry little sister mode and whacked the warrior on the head.

"Ow! Katara, what was that for!?" Sokka complained as he rubbed the back of his head tenderly.

"For being an insensitive jerk!" Katara exclaimed as she rounded on her brother. "We have barely meet this boy for five seconds and you've already insulted him or brought something up that we shouldn't have."

"Uh, guys?" Aang tried to gain the siblings attention by standing between them to prevent a sibling brawl. The two Water Tribers turned their attention to the bald monk who grinned cheekily, "Uh, maybe you can just calm down? I think we're freaking out Zhe."

Sure enough Zhe was looking at the transaction with a confused look, as though he wasn't used to see siblings fight the way Katara and Sokka did. Before anyone could speak they all heard a chattering from inside the barn near Zhe.

Zhe broke into a grin as a small nose poked its way out of the old hay, soon a small white snout soon followed. Dark brown eyes blinked at the newcomers in confusion, as though not knowing how these weird people had gotten into the barn.

"Fire Ferret!" Aang exclaimed in joy at seeing the red ferret, seeing as Aang loved animals he was happy to see the cute bright red ferret.

At the same time Sokka began to drool, "Dinner." He muttered as he looked at the ferret and immediately wondered if it tasted like Duck-chicken.

"Aka isn't dinner, are ya buddy?" Zhe asked the ferret who quickly scrambled up Zhe's leg with his little claws before resting on his shoulders, making the ferret look like a fur scarf.

"I have food with me, if you want some…?" The last part seemed hesitant, seeing as Sokka was still drooling everywhere now that he was thinking of Gran-Gran's home cooked Duck-chicken. The instant Zhe said he had food, Sokka snapped out of whatever daydreams he had and instantly gained a new respect for the airbender. "You know what, I think you and I are going to be good friends, Zhe." The warrior said casually as he searched around the old barn, thinking that Zhe had it stashed somewhere.

"It's not in the barns," Zhe said while the other two had sweat drops as they watched Sokka looking around for any meat. "I have it safe from any animals and the elements… including this little guy." Zhe patted Aka's head with a wry grin, Aka merely yawned before nestling closer to Zhe and soon fell asleep.

Zhe started to walk out of the barns, motioning for the others to follow him. Aang kept pace with him the entire time, his questions rushing out so fast Katara could barely keep track. "Where are you from? How old are you? How long have you been to the Southern Air Temple? Have you been to any of the other Temples? Have you ever had a fruit pie? Well I guess you never tried an air nomad fruit pie. Man, do I have a lot to teach you!"

Katara smiled as she watched the Avatar continue to pester Zhe with questions. It looked like coming here had actually been a good idea, staying was an even better idea. While Aang had lost his hone, he hadn't lost his people. There was still one other airbender left, he wasn't alone, neither of them were.

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It was soon obvious that for how long Zhe had been staying the ruins of the temple, he had been staying for awhile. In the main resident building, Zhe had made a makeshift tent that was big enough for everyone to go inside.

"Hey, this kinda reminds me of our tents." Sokka remarked as he looked around at the spacious tent, though was quick to notice that there were some imperfection regarding the stitching. No doubt Zhe had made the tent himself.

Inside the tent was a makeshift fireplace lined with stones in the middle, next to the dying fire was a sleeping bag where Zhe slept in. Besides it lining the walls were an assortment of dried fruit and vegetables. Zhe explained that he had been gathering some of the wild fruit that covered the tower.

Sokka was quick to notice that Zhe also had a small cache of blubbered seal jerky, which he told the warrior that they were for Aka since he didn't eat vegetables, though he did have a craving for moon peaches.

"Hey, a glider!" Aang said as he walked over to where a glider that looked the same as Aang's was propped against a pole. Aang opened the wings to discover that it was indeed the same type of glider but a little different in weight.

"I had to make that myself, all the others were rotten and spotted with holes by the time I got here." Zhe said with no small amount of pride as Aang handed him his glider. "It took me a couple of prototypes and nearly plummeting to my death, but I got it in the end. Luckily the monks left descriptions of the gliders so I had that to help me."

"Yeah, when we reached the age of eight we were supposed to make our own gliders by ourselves," Aang said as he thought back to the first time he had ever truly flown, he had yet to meet Appa yet. He smiled as he remembered the first time ever experiencing the freedom that flying brought him.

"So, you really are over one hundred years old? You look younger than me, I wouldn't have believed you if you hadn't done that cool ball thing." Zhe said as he looked at Aang, as though still having a hard time believing that a kid who was younger than himself was over one hundred years old.

Aang scratched the back of his bald head sheepishly. "Ehehe, what? I don't look like I'm one hundred and twelve, want to know my secret? Fruit pies and moon peaches," the monk said sagely.

Sokka, Katara, and Zhe laughed at Aang, his brow crinkled and his mouth set in a wise smile, as though he was trying to act like a head monk.

"So, how are you an airbender?" Sokka asked the question that everyone wanted to know.

Zhe was quiet for a moment or so, opting to poke the dying embers with a stick, finally he sighed, "I was born one."

"Well… yeeaaah. But I mean, who taught you? You were doing some pretty cool moves when we first saw you, not to mention your whole super speed."

"I taught myself," Zhe said simply, as though it was obvious. "Who else would teach me? The ghosts of the past?" he gestured towards the outside, and those that now rested there. "The only thing that I had to help me was the paintings on the walls. Everything else was just either instinct or imagination."

"I could teach you." Aang offered.

Everyone looked at the airbender in surprise, Zhe looked almost hopeful.

Aang saw their looks and shrugged. "Weeell, I _am_ considered an airbending protégée as well as a master." He gestured towards his pale blue tattoos. "In order to get these tattoos, one must first master all thirty six tiers of airbending." Now Aang turned a bit sheepish, "Well technically I mastered all thirty-five. The monks considered my air scooter to be so advanced they let it slide. They told me I was the youngest airbender ever to become a master." He said with a wide grin, remembering the day he got his tattoos.

"That's great Aang, you can teach Zhe." Katara said, happy that at least one of them could teach another and to have another learn, Katara would have to wait until they reached the North Pole to find a waterbending master.

Zhe looked at her in shock. "What do you mean? I get it, I'm an airbender, one of the two left. But why do you want me to come with you?" The boy looked down when he said this, as though he was used to being alone.

Aang frowned, as did the two Southern Water Tribers. "Because we have a mission. To go to the North Pole so Aang and Katara can learn waterbending." Sokka explained, his face serious and expression grim. "If they don't learn than the Fire Nation wins. And since the Fire Nation know that, we could use an extra fighter." Sokka grinned, "ever used a boomerang?"

"Zhe, what we're trying to say is that even though we just met there was a reason why we all found each other. Think about it, you could have gone to any of the Air Temples but you chose this one. Aang, you could've left during… well you know. But you stayed and we found Zhe." Katara slowly said as she pieced the pieces together, "I think it was fate. It was our destiny to find each other, like how Sokka and I found Aang." The waterbender declared.

Realization seemed to dawn on Aang as he mulled it over, finally the Avatar said, "She's right. It was destiny that brought us all together."

"_Or…"_ Sokka butted in, never one to believe in spirits and destiny. "It's just a coincidence?" Sokka shrank back at the glare Katara and even Aang were giving him. "Or, I guess maybe a whole bunch of glowy spirits decided to add in a little destiny and fate in there…" he muttered out to appease the two benders.

Zhe couldn't help but smile, "so I can come with you guys? I have to admit it gets a little lonely here with just me and Aka here." He scratched the fire ferrets ears, smiling when he saw the ferret's leg start to move as he hit a certain spot.

"As long as I get this seal jerky," Sokka took a big bite out of said jerky, "an then we're fine." He said through a mouth full of meat."

Zhe glanced over to Aang and Katara. "So, you want an extra airbender on your team?"

Aang grinned, "duh!"

Katara smiled warmly, Zhe felt himself relax, her smile reminded him of his mother. "Of course you can Zhe."

"Than I have one question." Zhe stated, "how exactly are we traveling?"

Aang and the two others shared knowing looks complete with matching grins.

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"Appa!" Aang cried out as he saw the sky bison, immediately jumping up to lay on his furry head. "Look who we just met, buddy!"

Zhe looked at the ten ton bison in awe. "Woah, a sky bison. I thought they were all extinct."

Appa turned his attention to Zhe and Aka, he sniffed them for a couple of moments before licking Zhe, drenching him in bison spittle.

"Aw, gross!"

"Haha," Sokka laughed with a grin. "Try having that, plus bison boogies." He said with a deadpan, remembering his first encounter with Aang's flying bison.

"Don't worry, Appa just had a cold that time, he's all better now. Aren't you, buddy?" Aang asked his friend who merely growled in agreement.

The other three decided to take his word for it, and stared to climb up Appa, though Zhe just jumped once and landed on the saddle. Zhe had packed lightly, only bringing his glider, food, sleeping bag, and of course Aka.

Aka was exploring the saddle with curiosity, Momo flew down in front of the ferret and chittered something while Aka squeaked something in reply.

"Appa, yip yip!" With a small roar Appa quickly launched himself off of the mountain and with mighty beats of his tail they were soon soaring through the air.

The sun had started to set, leaving the four kids in the dark light of dusk. Aang, with Momo on his shoulder, was leaning against the back of the saddle, watching as the Southern Air Temple started to disappear in the cover of the clouds.

As they got father and father away from his home, Aang noticed Zhe looking in the direction of the Temple as well, a sad look on his face as he saw the rest of the Temple disappear.

_This is it._ Aang realized as he scratched Momo's ears. _Everything left of the Air Nomads is us. Me, Appa, Momo, and Zhe. We're all that's left._ While that thought alone saddened him, knowing that the Air nomad culture's survival rested on their shoulders, he was happy that he was no longer alone. There was another person, a person Aang would teach all the customs that he learned from the Air Nomads, he would teach Zhe everything he knew, from stances, fighting, and even fruit pies.

He wasn't the alone, not anymore. He and Zhe were the last of the nomads, the last airbenders.

**End.**

**Hope you liked the first chapter of The Last Airbenders. I hope this chapter didn't seem hasty, Zhe's character will become more developed as the story progresses. For those wondering what Zhe looks like and even with the help of my description, he looks like Aang when he had hair, but older and without tattoos, I may sketch him if I find the time. Leave me a Review on how you like this first chapter.**


	2. The Warriors of Kyoshi Island

Inside a standard Fire Navy cruiser, Prince Zuko, the banished Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, was mediating in his room. As he continued to exhale and inhale peacefully, the candles in front of him calmly expanded before shrinking with each and every breath.

This was one of the few times one would find the banished prince without his typical scowl, instead the scarred young man had a peaceful if not relaxed appearance, something rare for the hot-headed teen.

Suddenly the quiet was gone at the screech of the metal door opening, his uncle Iroh poked his head in. Zuko continued to sit in his meditative position, his eyes never leaving the candles. "If the only reason you are interrupting me, Uncle. It better be news about the Avatar." The scarred prince said calmly, never once glancing at his Uncle.

Iroh opened the door all the way, making it screech louder but it did nothing to displease the calmed prince. "I have news Prince Zuko, but you may not like it." The aged General glanced down at the scroll in his hand containing said news. "Don't get too upset," the teen's uncle advised.

Zuko merely continued to gaze at the four candles in front of him, the small fire burning slow and calmly. "Uncle, you taught me that keeping a level head is a sign of a great leader. Now whatever you have to report, I'm sure I can handle it."

Seeing his nephew's calm exterior Iroh decided to not beat around the bush and instead spit it out. "Okay, we have no idea where he is." He answered truthfully.

The small balls of fire ignited on the candles immediately grew in size and ferocity, in a matter of seconds it had transformed into a violent inferno as Zuko's anger got the best of him.

The famed Dragon of the West didn't even blink even when the fire threatened to burn him instead the old man merely brought out a fan from within the pockets of his robes and started to fan himself. "You should really open a window in here," the man suggested while Zuko got up from his meditative pose and opted to grab the scroll out of his mentor's hands.

"Let me see the map!" Zuko snapped at his uncle before opening the scroll, revealing a map of the world including some of the minor islands. There were dotted lines that showed the Avatar was heading, but instead of staying in one direction, the boy had instead flown in a zig-zap pattern, leaving any patterns untraceable.

"There have been multiple sighting of the Avatar, but he is impossible to track down," Iroh explained while still fanning himself with the bright red fan.

With his traditional scowl in place, Zuko's gold eyes looked at the map and the Avatar's path, trying to figure out where he would appear next to no avail. "How am I going to find him, uncle?" Zuko asked his firebending teacher. "He is clearly a master of evasive maneuvers."

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On Appa's saddle, Sokka was looking at the same map as Zuko was, but didn't have their path inscribed on it. Glancing at the young Avatar who was flying and guiding the giant bison Sokka had to ask, "You have no idea where you're going, do you?"

Aang took a second to consider Sokka's question before answering truthfully, "Well I know its near water."

Zhe glanced around him, they were currently in the middle of the ocean. The only signs of life besides them were the fish and sea creatures, there was no speck of land anywhere. "We must nearly be there then."

Aang didn't seem to notice Zhe's sarcasm, and instead gave the other airbender a huge smile. "You bet! Just wait until you see the giant Koi! Oh, and Zhe I have some really cool airbender moves to show you!"

Zhe looked at the map before looking at the Avatar. "Aang… do you even have a compass?"

"No, why?"

Zhe smacked himself in the head, a gesture which was quickly followed also by Sokka. "Then how do you know we're nearly there!?" Sokka exclaimed.

"Sokka, calm down." Katara told her brother while she continued to hem the boy's pants. "Aang's been to this place before, I'm sure he knows which way to go."

Aang beamed at the waterbender, Zhe was quick to notice that Aang would not stop staring at the Water Tribe girl with a light, barely noticeable, blush on his cheeks. The young Avatar looked at Momo who was perched on his shoulders. "Momo, marbles please."

The flying lemur chittered in reply before diving into the Avatar's shirt, before remerging with said marbles in his paws and plopped them into Aang's outstretched hands.

"Hey, Katara. Check this out!" Aang held out his hands and immediately the marbles started to spin rapidly in a circular motion, making the dark marbles blur, all the while with a cheesy smile as he tried to impress the Water Tribe girl.

Katara hadn't even looked up from her sewing, "that's great Aang." She said disinterested, still not looking up.

Aang's grin soon fell apart when Katara didn't notice nor was impressed by his airbending move. He stopped channeling wind in his palm, making the marbles fall into his hand. "You didn't even look."

Katara glanced up for a single second, "that's great."

"But I'm not doing it anymore." Aang said disheartened.

Zhe by then had decided to grab on of the few moon peaches left and opted to channel the wind into his palm, making it hover a couple inches from his outstretched palm. "Aka, snack time."

"That's cool, Zhe." Katara said as she watched the little ferret scurry up Zhe's leg and into his lap, before quickly grabbing the hovering fruit, all the while hissing at Momo who was trying to get the peach.

Aang looked even more depressed when Katara had noticed Zhe's unintentional trick and not his attempt to impress her. Sokka noticed this but didn't have the same mindset as the young monk.

"Don't worry, Aang." Sokka said as he leaned casually against the saddle. "Girls need their space when they are sewing."

Katara, who had gone back to sewing Sokka pants, immediately stopped and whipped her head towards her older brother. "What does me being a girl have to do with sewing?" She asked, looking ready to stab her brother with her needle.

"Simple, girls are better are at fixing pants than guys. And guys are better at hunting and fighting and stuff like that." Sokka explained as though it was obvious. "It's the natural order of things."

"Uh, Sokka maybe you shouldn't say stuff like that-" Zhe started to say before the fifteen year old was interrupted by Katara.

The waterbender had a mocking smile as she held up Sokka's half fixed pants. "All done with your pants!" She said mockingly, "and look at what a great job I did!" She held the pants even closer to Sokka, making sure to point out the large hole in his pants before throwing them across the saddle and right into Sokka's face.

"Wait!" Sokka tried to say as he attempted to get the pants out of his face, he looked rather dumb wearing noting but his underwear and upper coat with his pants stuck on his head. "I'm sorry!" The Water Tribe boy tried to say, as he finally managed to untangle himself from the pants. "I was just kidding, Katara please!" Sokka stuck his hand through the hole, as though justifying that he needed his pants sewn.

"Relax, Sokka. Where we're going we won't need any pants!" Aang exclaimed from Appa's head.

Immediately Zhe stopped petting Aka and attempting to pry the lemur off of the fire ferret's back, seeing as Momo still wanted to eat the remaining peach. "Wait, what?"

Aang merely flicked the reigns, making Appa fly faster.

"We all heard him right?" Zhe asked Sokka who had finally put on his pants. "Where are we going? And why won't we need pants?"

Sokka shrugged, "It's Aang, Zhe. Nobody understands what's going through that bald round head of his."

For the next hour or so there was nothing new, besides the soft growls of Appa or the chitters of Momo and Aka, even the loud snores of Sokka did little to change the scene.

Zhe, his head resting against the pommel of the saddle, suddenly lifted his head when he noticed something fuzzy in the horizon. Squinting his eyes he could make out the faint outline of mountains and tall pine trees. "Land!" He called out to Aang, who had been fast asleep on Appa's head even though he_ should_ have been awake to guide Appa and not crash them into the ocean.

Katara crawled over to the side Zhe was on, she caught sight of land and breathed a sigh of relief. "We made it, wherever we are anyway."

"On the bright side we don't have to wear pants," Zhe said dryly while Katara couldn't help but grin at the boy's sarcasm, he was much less annoying than Sokka.

As they got closer, Zhe and the others noticed that the island was fairly small and was shaped like a rugged crescent moon.

Aang guided Appa to land on the shore, immediately the bald monk jumped off of the bison and ran towards the shore, gazing at the ocean with childish glee.

"Aren't we supposed to be heading to the North Pole?" Sokka asked the Avatar. "With all the pit stops you've been stopping at we won't be there until _I'm_ one hundred and twelve."

Aang, who had been peering at the ocean as though look for something, ignored the sarcastic warrior and instead gasped and pointed out something on the horizon. "Look!"

Suddenly a large Koi fish easily the size of a small hill leaped out of the ocean and seemed to hang in the air, the sunlight glinting off its golden scales, before crashing back into the seawater with a large splash.

"That's… a really big fish," Zhe said with wide eyes while the Water Tribe siblings merely gaped.

"That's why we're here." Aang explained as he started to undress, "to ride the elephant koi!"

"Wait, so we flew here to rid fish?" Zhe asked, his smoky grey eyes locking in with Aang's, the only difference was that Zhe's eyes were more of disbelief while Aang's seemed to twinkle with mischief that only a child and a happy go lucky boy could have.

Aang nodded his head and grinned.

Zhe pondered for a moment before shrugging and started to take off his coat and pants, "may as well while we're here." He said where Aang gave the boy a high five.

Katara and Sokka smacked their heads in frustration, "and there goes any hope of Zhe not being as crazy as Aang," Sokka said to his sister who nodded her head in agreement.

"What?" Zhe asked the two as Aang started to run towards the water, "I haven't gone swimming in a long time, the Air Nomads never thought of adding a pool to the temple."

Katara blushed slightly when she saw that while Zhe was more of a lean and wiry build, he still seemed to have quite a bit of muscle, he even had the start of a six pack going. Sokka seeing this, instantly scowled and he had to stop his hand that had twitched towards the direction of his trusty boomerang.

"Cold!" The three teens still on a beach had time to see Aang jump up from the freezing cold ocean, but he continued to swim out into deeper waters.

"So let me get this straight," Sokka said to Zhe, "while you and Aang go swimming and playing with some stupid fish, what are me and Katara supposed to do?"

"Uh," Zhe glanced around the beach for an answer, an answer that came in the way of a certain furry ferret. Zhe scooped up Aka and thrust the Fire Ferret into the warriors arms. "Here, take care of Aka."

And with that said and done, Zhe suddenly disappeared and reappeared in the ocean, using his airbending speed to catch up to Aang who had already gone on.

Sokka held Aka up to his face, Aka's little face was scrunched up as he studied Sokka while Sokka stared at the ferret with boredom. Suddenly the ferret hissed and managed to get out of the boy's gripe, and jump on his head, before landing in Katara's arms, snuggling into her arm.

Sokka, who had been surprised by the ferret on his head, had fallen on his back and onto the beach, the boy laid eagle-spread as he looked up at the sky. Finally the boy groaned. "You just _had_ to open the ice berg, didn't you?"

Zhe and Aang felt the current underneath them ripple slightly, signifying that something large was underneath them. Both took large gulps of water before diving, their heads disappearing in the murky deep.

Sokka and Katara watched on and waited for them to come back up, the water where they had been started to bubble, and then two massive koi fish emerged from the ocean deep.

When someone meant big to describe these fish, they meant easily fifty times bigger than Appa who was a full grown Sky Bison. Both airbenders were holding on to the large dorsal fin. Katara smiled when she heard Aang cheering the Koi on, and it was obvious that Zhe was laughing as well. The was something about their newest friend that made it seem that he didn't laugh a lot, so for the young waterbender to see the older boy having fun made her feel very happy. Sokka on the other hand just continued to sit on the beach with the same bored and gloomy expression.

Even from across the small bay Katara could still see Aang beaming at them, the thought of him trying to impress her never seemed to catch her mind, Katara started to cheer for both airbenders as the Koi started to leap and swim with surprising speed and agility.

Sokka gave her an exasperated look complete with a roll of his eyes. "Why are you cheering them on? The fish are doing all the work!"

For the first time in a really _really_ long time, Zhe actually felt himself relax as he sped through the water while gripping the giant elephant Koi. He couldn't stop himself from following Aang and laughing at the sheer thrill and fun of riding the giant fish. Zhe couldn't remember the last time he had laughed so freely, maybe years. It certainly felt like that.

Suddenly the trio of Koi dived into the water, both airbenders gripping the dorsal fin tighter unless they wanted to be thrown off. Zhe had never realized how clear the ocean was, even though he had to squint to keep most of the salt water out of his eyes, he could still see Aang ahead of him with his own elephant Koi. Around him were schools of normal sized fish, darting around the reef and some even swimming along.

Out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw something. Something big, dark, and alien; something that shouldn't be there. But when he turned back he saw nothing, and by the time he had realized most of the small fish were gone, the golden Koi he was riding had finally returned to the surface.

Zhe's fish was closer to Aang's Koi than the other one that was slightly trailing behind, even from Zhe's distance as well as the wind and water splashing his face it was near impossible to see the young Avatar's crestfallen face.

A quick glance to the beach was all he needed as he saw Katara jog off and into the trees, it was very obvious to the older airbender that Aang had a huge crush on Katara, something that neither Katara nor Sokka seemed to realize.

But then Zhe noticed Sokka come closer to the beach, he was too far away to make out the pony-tailed teen's face but his entire posture seemed rigid, like something was wrong.

Zhe thought nothing of it, from what he had gathered about the older boy he seemed to be a bit hot-headed and didn't really know what to do. It was only when Katara joined her brother and her posture turned as rigid as his was when Zhe realized something was wrong.

Then the two were waving their arms, trying to catch both airbenders attentions, Zhe could make out a little red blur racing on the beach, even Aka seemed upset. "-et ou-!" Their faint cries reached the two, but neither of them could understand what the two were saying.

Aang didn't seem to notice his friends distress, he merely beamed and waved at them, not noticing that the other riderless Koi had disappeared leaving only their Koi left.

Zhe felt the fish shudder underneath him, knowing exactly what was about to happen Zhe immediately leapt off his fish, landing a great distance away from the giant fish and Aang, but he was still halfway across the entire bay.

Zhe heard Aang's shocked cry and he could see the twelve-year-old flailing his arms as though trying to flap wings before smashing into the water. The boy barely had enough time to catch his breath when a huge shadow appeared behind him.

Zhe felt his heart beat in fear when he saw the dorsal fin, the membranes pitch black while the soft reptilian flesh a light purple. What really scared him was the size, just the fin alone was bigger than the elephant koi…. And if that was just the top…

Aang cried out as he started to run on top of the water, an idea that Zhe was quick to use. Aang had the advantage of being the better airbender, but Zhe was closer to the beach.

The two shot off like rocks thrown from a catapult, nothing but blurs, with the splashes of water the only sign of them being there. But whatever that thing was, it was just as fast, if not only slower behind a foot or so. Before any of them were eaten by whatever was chasing them, the two reached to shore, Zhe ran into the soft fur of Appa while Aang slammed into Sokka.

"What was that thing!?" Katara exclaimed as the four watched the large fin disappear into the murky deep.

Zhe and Aang were putting on their clothes, "I don't know." Zhe said as he stared at the spot where the monster had disappeared with wariness in his smoky grey eyes. "But whatever that thing is, I really don't want to find out."

The other three, even Aang, agreed with the dark-haired boy. Whatever that thing was, they'd rather not find out.

Sokka rubbed his hands together before gesturing Appa with a jerk of his thumb. "Well whatever that thing is, it can remain unknown to us. Aang you've had you fun, now it's time to take to the sky and get off this stupid island."

It seemed that fate has something else in order for the four young travelers, or maybe the spirits just loved to scorn Sokka.

All Zhe saw was a flash of dark green and gold, before someone grabbed him from behind. The young teen fought against the grip and managed to get out of the iron grip, but before he could even move his hand to blast the attacker with airbending or at least a good solid punch, he felt something hard hit his temple.

Stars flashed through his field of vision and he could barely resist when he was bound and flung to the ground, quickly following the others. They had even bound Aka and Momo!

Zhe faintly heard Sokka say, "or we could stay awhile." Before darkness overtook him.

**[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] [][][][][][][][][][][]**

"Zhe, wake up!"

Zhe groaned and leaned back, his head bumped into something, which did not help his headache at all. He was quick to notice, even in his pained state, that he had been bound to a large wooden pole with the others, other than that he did not know. Whoever had kidnapped him had blindfolded the airbender.

"You four have some explaining to do..." A voice that was obviously a man, perhaps a more older man judging by his voice, said to the bound travelers menacingly.

"And if you don't answer our questions, we'll throw you into the bay to feed the Unagi." Whoever spoke know was obviously a woman, but something told Zhe that you didn't want to piss her off.

"Show yourselves cowards!"

_And there goes Sokka,_ Zhe thought with a small sigh. _Always one to jump the catapult._

The blindfold was ripped off, allowing Zhe and the others to see. Once his eyes adjusted to the light, he realized he was surrounded by women wearing forest green robes and their faces were covered in pure white make up with red eye shadow.

"Who are you? Where are the men who captured us?" Sokka demanded.

The woman who had spoken earlier, _the leader_, Zhe realized, spoke again. "There were no men, we captured you!" The leader, who looked a little older than Sokka and Zhe gestured towards the women in the green robes.

Sokka snorted in disbelief. "Yeah right, like a bunch of _girls_ took us down."

That wasn't the right thing to say, especially since they were being held prisoner by said women who did look happy at Sokkas little comment.

The leader strode up to the young Southern Water Tribe warrior and grabbed the boy by the shirt. "A bunch of girls, huh? The Unagi will eat well tonight." She threatened, looking well prepared to throw the teen to the Unagi, whatever that was. Zhe was hoping they wouldn't have to stick around to find out.

"Wait don't hurt him! My brother's just an idiot some times." Katara said in hopes that they wouldn't harm her boneheaded big brother.

"It's my fault," Aang said somberly, a rare frown adorning his boyish features. "I just wanted to ride the elephant koi."

"How do we know that you're not Fire Nation spies?" The old man asked with a suspicious look as he looked at Zhe, who had dark hair like many in the Fire Nation. "Kyoshi has stayed neutral in the war so far, and we intend to keep it that way."

"Then why did you take us prisoners?" Zhe demanded. "If you want to stay neutral to both sides, why would you attack and bind us when you don't even know who we are or where we stand in the war?"

For a second the people hesitated as they saw the point in his objection and observation.

Zhe decided that since they were still alive he may as well continue. "For all you know, we could be important people and the side we are on wouldn't be happy if you kidnapped us, they would see it as an act of war and would think that you joined the other side."

_After all,_ Zhe thought. _We _are_ important to the war. Aang is the Avatar and that should warrant enough attention to make him important, people have been waiting one hundred years for his return while the Fire Nation continue to wage war upon the world._ _The others and I are less important, though I am the second to last airbender alive, not that these people need to know that…_

"W-Well," the old man scratched the back of his head nervously, seeing the danger of this situation.

A light bulb seemed to go off in Aang's head as he remembered the name 'Kyoshi'.

"Wait this island is named after Kyoshi? I know Kyoshi!" The reincarnation exclaimed.

The old man bellowed in laughter. "Hah, how could you possibly know her? Avatar Kyoshi was born here four hundred years ago. She's been dead for centuries!" The man declared.

Aang was silent before smiling slightly. "I know her because I'm the Avatar." A knowing look coming to his grey eyes.

The woman scowled while the elder seemed to step backwards. His mouth wide open, his mustache twitching in surprise.

"That's impossible!" The leader exclaimed as she looked at the airbender with an angry glare. "The last Avatar was an airbender that disappeared a hundred years ago!"

Aang beamed at her. "That's me!" As though to further add even more surprises he quickly added. "Zhe's an airbender too!"

"Throw those two impostors to the Unagi!" The grey-haired man declared. At his command the warriors unfolded gold fans and advanced towards the bound teens menacingly.

"Aang, Zhe, do some airbending..." Katana muttered out of the corner of her clamped mouth.

The two airbenders looked at one another, an agreement seemed to pass through the two and the airbenders used their element to propel themselves high into the air before slowly descending.

Gasps of awe and shock soon followed as the villagers saw the art of airbending for the first time. Aside from Katara and Sokka they were the first to see the element in use. It impressed them and they were quick to realize that the little bald monk was the Avatar.

"It's true," the man said in shock. "You are airbenders. You are the Avatar."

A somewhat cocky smirk was plastered on Aang's rounded face. "Now check this out!" The young Avatar declared as he grabbed the marbles out of his pocket and did the same trick he has used to try and impress Katara. He beamed at them while the people of Kyoshi cheered.

Zhe quickly made out an individual within the group of villagers, a man was cheering so hard he was swaying, a high pitched cheer coming from him, foam starting to foam from his mouth, before starting to overflow and drip to the ground. The man then promptly passed out.

**[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] [][][][][][][][][][][]**

Zhe was leaning on the window on the top floor of the largest house on the whole village. He could see a painter refurbishing the statue of Avatar Kyoshi.

Ironically that same statue was the place they had been tied to, go figure. An Avatar pops up and they tie him to a statue of his past life.

"Zhe check this out! Dessert for breakfast!"

Zhe turned around to see Katara and Aang seated at the low table, a man was bowing low as he left the room. Sure enough the entire table was filled to the brim with sweets.

Aang had already helped himself to a sweet bun filled with custard. "These people sure know how to treat an Avatar!" He said through a mouthful of sweet bun.

Zhe sat down next to Katara, who was sniffing one of the sweets. Having grown up in the South Pole where no crops grew made it hard for the girl to know which sweet was what, or if she had ever had sweets before.

"Mmm, Zhe, Katara you have to try these!" Aang said as he passed them a sweet bun each.

Zhe bit into one and immediately discovered why Aang loved them. It was really good and had obviously been well prepared for the Avatar and his friends. The only sweet things Zhe had had in the past couple years during his life in the Southern Air Temple had been Moon Peaches and Sun Cherries. But seeing as Aka usually ate them the teenage airbender hadn't eaten many sweet things for a long time.

Speaking of Aka... Zhe could see his little paw creeping towards one of the sweets at the end of the table. A longer white arm was next to him trying to grab one of the sweets as well.

He smiled as he grabbed a bun filled with peach custard, using a simple airbending trick he channeled the air under the table to act like a vacuum. Zhe heard a surprised squeak as Aka flew into his open palm, the fire ferret forgave him however when the boy gave him the bun.

Zhe felt soft white fur brush up against him, looking down he saw Momo's wide bright green eyes staring up at him. He sighed and grabbed another bun, smacking away Aang's hand and gave it to the lemur.

Momo chirped something, probably a thank you, before using his fingers to climb up his shirt sleeve and nestled into the burrow of his neck, his long tail curled around his pale neck.

"Looks like Momo likes you," Katara said with a small grin.

Zhe grinned in return, scratching the lemurs bat-like ears. "The trick is food." He explained as Momo purred contently, already take large bites out of the bun.

Speaking of food... Zhe turned around to see that Sokka had yet to stop sulking in the corner. "Since when have you missed out on food, Sokka?"

"Not hungry," the boy grumbled.

Zhe rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and I'm a firebender, Aang can't bend at all, and Katara is an airbender."

"He's just upset that a bunch of girls kicked his butt," Katara explained, but judging by her smile her older brother had none of her sympathy.

"They snuck up on me!" He defended himself as he jumped to his feet in anger.

"Right," Katara took a bit out of a pastry. "And then they kicked your butt." It was obvious to Zhe that she was getting back at Sokka for his comments about girls and guys back before they had arrived on Kyoshi island.

"Sneak attacks don't count!" The warrior stormed out of the room, a couple seconds later he was back as he went to the table and grabbed multiple pastries, all the while muttering something about 'stupid girls' and 'I'll show them' before leaving the room.

Zhe popped a cherry into his mouth. "Katara I have a feeling that your brother is about to do something stupid."

Katara sighed, "You'll get used to it, Zhe."

Zhe turned his grey eyes towards Aang, who was eating the sweets at a speed only an airbender could hope to achieve. The less experienced airbender was sure that Aang was using his mouth as a vacuum to eat all those buns.

"Aang, do you think you could teach me some airbending moves?"

_Well that didn't sound desperate..._ Zhe thought with mental groan. To give the boy some slack, Zhe had learned everything he knew from either the faded pictures on the ancient walls of the Southern Air Temple or from his imagination and creativity. Obviously he was not as good at airbending as Aang was, not only was he the Avatar, but he had actually been taught by the monks, something Zhe would never be able to have.

Aang brightened at the prospect. "Sure Zhe! I have some really cool techniques that I can show you, some I made myself! Maybe some day I can show you how to make an air scooter!"

Katara smiled, obviously happy that Zhe would be able to learn more of his element from a master. Even if said master was a twelve year old boy with the hyperness of a kangaroo leopard.

"And this is the perfect place to do it, what with these villagers giving us the royal treatment." Aang continued on as he munched on some sort of cinnamon roll.

"Don't let all this get to your head, Aang." Katara warned the young Avatar.

Aang merely smiled at her as he got up and gazed out the window. "Don't worry, I'm just a simple monk."

The second his head was out the window, the trio of benders heard squealing. Aang glanced down to see a swarm of young girls even younger than him, huddled outside their momentary quarters.

Aang grinned while a light blush flushed his round face. Katara looked annoyed and blew a raspberry at the girls. Zhe groaned as his head banged the table. "Please tell me those aren't fan girls." The teen pleaded, his voice slightly muffled due to his face mashed into the hard wood.

"Fan girls." Katara said simply, annoyance still in her eyes.

Zhe groaned.


	3. The Attack on Kyoshi Island

_"Water brings healing and life. But fire brings only destruction and pain. It forces those of us burdened with its care to walk a razor's edge between humanity and savagery. Eventually, we are torn apart." _

**~ Jeong Jeong. **The Deserter.

* * *

The swarm of girls did in fact turn out to be exactly what Zhe had feared. Fan girls, and a lot of them too.

The second the young Avatar stepped out of the main hut, he found himself swarmed by the girls who couldn't be older than ten.

Zhe and Katara watched as the boy struck up conversations with the giggling girls before they were lost in the horizon. Zhe glanced at the young water bender. "So... What do we do now? Sokka's gone missing in search of those girls, and now Aang has a fan club."

Katara sighed, "I'm going to get supplies. We can't stay here forever, we have to get to the North Pole so Aang and I can master water bending."

Zhe nodded, "I'll met you at the market. I'm going to go check up on Appa."

The two benders, one of water and the other of air, headed different directions. Katara to the market and Zhe towards the stables.

Apparently they weren't the only ones getting the royal Avatar treatment. Zhe found Appa lounging on his side munching the large bale of hay that had been provided by him. His horns were gleaming, showing they had just been polished with the utmost care.

"Hey buddy," Zhe greeted one of the last parts of Aang's and his culture with a wave. Appa grunted a greeting as he continued to chew. Zhe grabbed an apple from the storage and gave it to the sky bison, who growled in appreciation.

Zhe sat on one of his six feet, petting the bison on the snout. Aka and Momo had left to explore the village, knowing Aka and the white furred lemur, Zhe was wondering that even with being part of the Avatar's group would save them from the trouble of the two troublemaking animals would no likely cause.

Zhe decided he may as well head back to the market to find Katara, he met her halfway, carrying two pots of dried fruit and meat. Zhe took one of them without a word. As they walked back to the hut they had small talk. Zhe was interested in Katara's life before finding Aang.

Katara warmly reminisced about her childhood in the Southern Water Tribe, as well as all the trouble Sokka got in when he tried to prove to his father and the other warriors about how much of a man he was.

The end result was the six year old boy being buried neck deep in the snow with penguins pecking at his hair.

While Zhe was laughing at the image Katara finally asked something she had been wondering for a long time, ever since she had meet the boy in the isolated and destroyed temple.

"Zhe... Where are you from? And I mean originally, why aren't you with your parents? Why were you in that temple to begin with?"

Zhe stopped laughing immediately at her questions, pain flashed through his pale face and sadness in his smoky eyes. It left so fast had Katara not been looking so close she would of missed it.

"I'm from everywhere," the boy said vaguely, as though he wasn't even there with her. His eyes were dull as he thought of long repressed memories.

_**Fire, it was everywhere. Nothing could stop it and it was all **_**his**_** fault... It was because of him everyone and everything was gone...**_

Zhe felt his eyes tearing up and immediately tore away from the memory. He forced a smile and looked at the concerned water bender.

"I'm was born in a small village, you've probably never heard of it."

Katara frowned, obviously knowing he was hiding something. "But what about-"

She stopped when she saw Zhe walk faster, leaving her behind. Katara sighed, mentally making a note to never bring up his past. For some people it would help them heal, but Katara wasn't sure that would help the airbender.

But the questions were still there. Who was Zhe really?

* * *

Katara could tell Zhe was upset even if he didn't shown it. The reason?

Aang had been gone for hours with his horde of fan girls. They had seen neither hide nor hair of the Avatar, though Aang didn't exactly have any hair they still couldn't find him. And since Aang was gone and they couldn't find him, Zhe couldn't learn any airbending moves from the master.

Katara, seeing the boy sulking in the corner even worse than her brother had before, decided to take matters into her own hands. "Come on Zhe, we can practice bending together. We can show each other our moves, maybe we can make some up. While water and air are different elements their forms are slightly similar and maybe the culture shock will help us." She encouraged the sulking boy.

Zhe perked up at this, even if he couldn't learn airbending from Aang, what was the problem with learning with Katara? They were both benders, even if they were different elements, luckily their elements were slightly similar than say fire and water or earth and air. Both elemental katas were both go with the flow, with waterbenders able to use water to forever change course and adapt, the same thing with airbending even though their element was more about freedom than adaption.

The two benders found a good spot for training; it was next to a traditional red bridge that curved slightly as a small river trickled by. Zhe was sitting Indian Style with his glider resting on his knees next to the river watching Katara curiously.

"You push and pull the water like this," she explained as she fluidly moved her hands back and forth, the water had started to move in the same direction.

"That's pretty cool, especially since you had no help," Zhe complimented as he got up and twirled the handmade glider in his right hand.

Zhe went into the same stance Katara had been in, the young waterbender corrected some of the few mistakes until he got it right. The airbender then moved his wrists and elbows the same way Katara did, while nothing happened to the water not that they didn't expect it. The two could feel a breeze forming, soon enough both teenagers could see the breeze thanks to upheaved dirt and grass, with a small grunt Zhe pushed his hands forward and the result was instantaneous.

With the force of a stampeding sky bison, the large gale of wind swept its way across the river and into the forest surrounding the village. Instantly large trees that had to be over half a century old tumbled to the ground with lard resulting crashes. Those that did not fall had limbs ripped off and large cuts appearing through the hardened bark, it looked like a madman had attacked the trees with a sharp sword.

"Woah…" Katara breathed as she saw the destruction, while it wasn't as destructive as say Aang in the Avatar State but it was still a sight to behold. She highly doubted she could do something like that with water; Katara made a mental note that even though air bending was a symbol of freedom it was still a force to be reckoned with.

Zhe lowered his hands, he scratched the back of his black spiky hair sheepishly. "Oops."

Katara rolled her sea blue eyes, "if you get in trouble with the village, I'm not helping you."

"But you're the one who showed me how to do that move!"

Katara raised her finger and shook it in his face, "Ah, ah, ah. I never moved my hands forward in a thrust, that was you. Not me."

Zhe sighed and crossed his arms in defeat. "And here I was thinking you were my friend."

Katara laughed at the male's sullen expression. "Come down, you're more moody than Sokka when he is deprived of anything meat related." She said before tilting her head slightly, "speaking of my brother… Have you seen him? I haven't seen him since we last ate."

Zhe shook his head. "No, I haven't seen him either? You think he's with Aang?"

Katara 'pffted'. "I don't think Sokka would like to be with Aang and his little 'group' of fans. Judging by his comments earlier he's probably trying to find that leader of the warriors who kidnapped us. What was her name again?"

"Suki, I think. I never really had a chance to talk to her, what with the whole village gushing about Aang being the Avatar, though some people were gushing over me for being an airbender." Zhe said for a second the two were silent as they pondered where the oldest of their group had gone off to. Finally, "You don't think he's going to do something stupid, do you?"

"It's my brother, Zhe. When does he ever not do something stupid?" Katara asked rhetorically.

He shrugged, "Well since we don't know where the others are, we may as well train. A bender doesn't get good overnight." Zhe then went into a different stance than the one Katara had shown him. Both arms were raised, with each elbow slightly bent, his palms were spread forward as he slouched back slightly. Katara remembered back when they had first ran into Zhe at the Temple, and how he moved when airbending. Each move was fluid and sure, like the wind itself.

"You want to be as loose as possible," Zhe explained as he slowly swayed in the light breeze, his grey eyes seemed to glow in concentration yet still havening a certain calmness within those smoky grey orbs. "Airbending is freedom, both physically and mentally. When you release the element from within you, it has its own will but will allow you to guide it. You can't control the wind, just like you cannot control ocean as a whole, you may be able to guide it and place your will upon it, but no matter what the air will always be free." Zhe closed his eyes as he breathed deeply, Katara could see an excessive amount of air billowing from his mouth and nostrils. "Even on the inside, within your mind you will always have that sense of freedom, that sense of passion that only those who have flown in the clouds could possibly have. An airbender is always light on their feet, ready for anything. They don't like to be contained and forced to stay in one place, whether it be fighting or playing. This is why airbenders and earthbenders are so different in both state of mind and culture."

Katara listened on with bated breath, she had never realized how much an element could represent itself in a human being, even if said human being was a bender. She had always noticed that out of most people in her village, save the more experienced and older villagers, she had always been the one to adapt the fastest. She was willful and always looking at a problem and thinking of a way for adaption, just like water going through a bamboo forest. While the path may be blocked by the bamboo shoots, water still found a way to flow through. She had also noticed how much alike Aang and Zhe were. Sure Aang was a more innocent and childish than Zhe. But both had the same free spirit as the other, the ability to never stay still for too long, to always be ready to roam and fly. To be free. Like air the two were always quick on their feet, able to fight an attack not head on like Sokka, but able to find a different path, their own path.

"Earthbenders depend on their strong stance for their attacks," Zhe continued on, his eyes still shut as he pondered the four elements and those who could bend them both physically and spiritually. "It is rare for an earthbender to move at all, while it is the exact opposite for airbenders. We depend on our speed and creativity to take someone down, we don't try to control our thoughts to stay still and fight in one spot, we free those thoughts and use them for our imagination."

Zhe reopened his eyes and helped Katara with his normal form, fixing any small imperfections in the kata. Finally once he deemed her form was good enough he went through a technique he had created.

With his palm facing forward Zhe moved his left arm back slightly while the right stayed where it is. "This is a defensive move I made up, I saw a firebender blocking another firebenders attack by batting it away, I decided to use that with my airbending." A small ripple seemed to move through his hands, his loose shirt rippling as Katara realized that he was channeling air through his hands. "Since you're a waterbender you should be able to coat your hands in water, when something comes at you do this."

Zhe batted his right hand to the side, the palm still wide open, a small gust of wind shot out of his hand and had anything tried to strike him it would have instantly been knocked off course and land somewhere else where neither him nor his friends would get hurt.

Katara bended some water from the river to coat her tanned hands, the water rippled just like Zhe's. She held her hands out just like she had seen Zhe do, she quickly moved her left hand to the side as though swatting away a giant buzzard fly, water flew out of her palm like air had gone from Zhe's though it was lesser in speed and size.

Zhe grinned while Katara grinned in satisfaction of getting the jist of the move right. "Alright, I knew you would be able to learn that fast." Zhe got into his own stance from across Katara, "now to try it for real?"

Katara raised an eyebrow, "you mean have an actual fight with actual bending?" She asked, slightly unsure on how to react. She had never fought a real bender before, even when she had meet Aang the closer they had gotten to fighting was during practice and they never dueled it out since neither were sure how an airbender and a waterbender fight would turn out, not to mention that while Aang was the Avatar and a master airbender, he knew practically nothing about waterbending while Katara only knew the basics which she had to teach herself since she was the only waterbender in the South Pole.

"Not an actual fight, more like one of us attacks the other with light blows while the other has to block it, unless you want me to use that move you just taught me," Zhe teased.

Katara rolled her eyes, "And risk being thrown through several trees and all the way across the island? No thanks."

"You defend first while I attack lightly, at least this way we don't have to practice when we get attacked by real enemies," Zhe said. Once the two got into their poses Zhe shot a quick yet soft billow of air at the waterbender.

Katara batted it aside like she had seen Zhe do, to both their shock and satisfaction the air was thrown off track and merely slammed into a protruding rock. "I did it!" Katara cried out, a large smile on her face.

Zhe grinned, "Alright! Now for the next one-" The boy stopped when he heard something off deep in the woods. He unknowingly got out of his kata form and instead tilted his head slightly in the direction of the odd noise.

Katara got out of her kata form as well, seeing as her hearing wasn't as good as the young airbender's she didn't understand why he had suddenly broken off. "Zhe?"

"Shhh," Zhe held up a finger for silence. His eyes clenched in concentration, he could faintly hear the faint screech of something he had no clue as to what it belonged to. One thing was certain though, it was getting closer to them. Then the two felt the ground tremble slightly.

"What _is_ that?" Katara whispered in confusion, before Zhe could share his own confusion the answer was soon revealed to them.

They saw a red and orange blur running down the road, it was Aang. And the reason for his flight was the pack of rabid girls running after the young preteen Avatar. Their screeches and squeals was revealed to be the odd noise Zhe had heard. The two watched with large sweat drops as Aang crossed the bridge the two were near, before running back the way he came when he jumped over the group of girls, who merely continued to follow the bald airbender, their arms waving as though they were trying to grab him. Once Aang had realized that they were still following him he headed back to the bridge but immediately stopped in the middle when _another_ group of fan girls appeared and the young Avatar suddenly found himself surrounded.

Luckily for Aang and unfortunately for the fan girls, Aang had enough sense to jump ten feet in the air and held a ball of condensed air in his arms to keep him hovering well above the young girls reach.

But Aang was quick to realize that his ball of air was getting slower and smaller before it disappeared all together. He fell into the swarm of fan girls, who having now caught him, didn't seem to want to give him up.

Zhe and Katara merely stood on the riverbank watching Aang try and free himself from the iron grip of the seven and ten year olds, but to no success. After a minute or so of watching Aang's failed attempts to escape Zhe turned to Katara, "should we help him?"

Katara pretended to ponder the possibilities, all the while listening to Aang's protests and the giggles of the fan girls. After a minute or so she finally said, "Aang _is_ the almighty Avatar." She said with a smug smile to an equally smug Zhe. "Surely the master of all four elements can handle his own fan club." With that said the happy waterbender turned her back to the still captured Aang and walked back in the direction of the town, Zhe following her. The protests of their friend falling on deaf ears.

* * *

After leaving Aang to his fate, the two benders, who looked a lot more happy then when they had first gone into the forest, walked back to the main hut where they found Sokka leaning against the banister.

The oldest out of the Gaang had a troubled expression, his eyebrows scrunched up as he gazed at the statue of Kyoshi, as though hoping to see an answer to whatever question was plaguing his mind in the faded and worn woodwork of the long dead Avatar.

Zhe glanced at Katara before saying softly to her so Sokka didn't hear them, "I got this, go check up on the supplies and make sure Sokka didn't eat all of it."

Katara would have rolled her eyes had not Zhe made a strong point, whether happy or sad Sokka always found comfort in food, usually meat. The younger sister headed into the back of their temporary home to check up on the supplies while Zhe walked up to Sokka and leaned against the same banister, side by side the young South Pole warrior.

"Copper piece for your thoughts, Sokka?" The young airbender asked as he glanced at Sokka, who still looked down. When Sokka ignored him and continued to stare out into the horizon Zhe elbowed him, "come on, Sokka. We may have only just met a couple of weeks ago, but I can still tell when something is bugging you. I'm here to talk to, you know. What with me being an Air Nomad filled with infinite wisdom and guidance as well as a spiritual guide."

Despite his sour mood Sokka couldn't help but snort. "Yeah right, like you or Aang are filled with infinite wisdom. You have never enjoyed the rich and juicy flavor of blubbered seal jerky, while Mr. Avatar can't see the difference between fire wood and blubbered seal jerky."

"When did this happen?"

"Oh, right. You hadn't joined us yet." Sokka said as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"And also, need I remind you that both Aang and I are both vegetarians. Though I have eaten meat before," Zhe said truthfully.

Sokka raised a brow, "wait, what?" Sokka couldn't help but grin. "So you _do_ know the tasty goodness of meat, when was this, why wasn't I there, and why'd you stop."

Zhe smiled despite himself. "Well for one, my parents weren't Air Nomads, and I ate meat when I was a kid. Since I was born on the western shore of the Earth Kingdom and you in the South Pole I doubt you could've come. And, I stopped when I realized my heritage." The last part was spoken softly, if Sokka wasn't standing by him he would of missed it.

"What, when you first discovered you could airbend?" The nonbender couldn't help but ask, how else would this kid figure out he was a descendent from the same Air Nomads and airbenders that Aang had once known one hundred years ago.

Zhe shook his head. "No, after that. Back when-," he stopped suddenly, after a second or so he finally said, "back when I first moved to the Temple, I had been alone for a long time so I didn't exactly want to eat Aka and I never knew about Momo until you guys found me."

"Heh, yeah Aka doesn't exactly look that appetizing, he's mostly fur and bones," Sokka joked as he thought of the furry ferret.

"So, you going to tell me why you look like you had just cleaned up from being snot on by Appa?"

"I went to go find those warrior ladies," Sokka said where Zhe groaned.

"Let me, guess. You found them, probably insulted them, and then challenged the leader to a fight." Zhe said bluntly as he looked at Sokka who had the decency to blush. Sokka scratched the back of his head, "Well it _may_ have gone a little like that." Sokka said weakly.

"So what happened?"

Sokka seemed to deflate at the words, he mumbled something unintelligible under his breath that not even Zhe could understand. "Could you say that again?"

"I got my butt kicked, alright!" Sokka exclaimed as he threw his hands up in anger and embarrassment. "I didn't even have a chance, she used my own wrappings to bind my foot and hand."

"Yeah, those warriors are pretty good at binding us," Zhe said as he remembered the day before when said warriors had captured and bound them easily.

Sokka shot him a withering glare before deflating yet again. "…What am I going to do, Zhe?" he asked sadly. "If I can't even beat a girl in hand to hand combat, how am I supposed to help protect you guys against real firebenders? I'm not a bender, I can't use Katara's magical water, I can't run or move as fast as Aang or you, and I can't even bend at all. I'm the one nonbender in a group of benders." The boy said depressed as he realized how much of a disadvantage he was at.

Zhe never knew that Sokka could have such fears, sure the boy was brash, but everyone in their small group looked up to him. Some could even say that he would be a great leader, out of all of them Aang and Sokka seemed to be the leaders. Sokka was the oldest of them, with Zhe a year younger and Katara a year younger than Zhe. Aang was the youngest at age twelve, but since he _was_ technically one hundred and twelve and the Avatar so he was the official leader of the group, but everyone would listen to Sokka if he had a good idea.

"Well for one, you could apologize to Suki." Zhe advised, "maybe if you're nice she could teach you some moves. You know Sokka, just because she's a girl doesn't mean she can't kick butt and win." Zhe smiled slightly as though remembering a fond time. "My mother, she wasn't a bender like me and my dad. But she wasn't afraid to make sure we stayed in line. My dad was the greatest bender of all time, he wasn't an airbender though," Zhe added quickly when he saw Sokka's question in his eyes. "But he was absolutely terrified of mom when she got angry."

Sokka was silent for a minute before he asked a question that had been asked by Katara earlier today. "Zhe… where are your parents?" he asked cautiously, knowing that Zhe's past was something that was considered off limits, but he was too curious. "They weren't in the Temple when we found you, and even though I'm not the best person to talk about parents, I know that neither of them would let me wander the world if I was an airbender, it'd be too dangerous."

Zhe chuckled, but it wasn't a warm one like he usually did. Instead it was cold and bitter, Zhe looked at him and Sokka noticed his smile didn't seem to reach his eyes. "You're right, Sokka. It isn't safe being an airbender, especially since one would think that you were the Avatar, what with the one who disappeared being an airbender, the _last_ airbender…"

Sokka looked at the boy with growing dread in his gut… why did he have a feeling that Zhe's past wasn't a nice one? Sokka nearly winced at the coldness and empathy in Zhe's grey eyes, no longer the color of smoke but more of hardened steel.

"Someone found out… didn't they?" He swallowed, "Someone who shouldn't have."

Zhe felt the tears forming, felt them flowing down his pale cheeks, but he paid them no mind. He just stared at the statue of Avatar Kyoshi. "Yes. And it was my fault," Zhe managed to choke out. Zhe looked at the sympathetic Sokka, pure fury and the need for revenge burning in his blazing eyes, nearly making Sokka flinch at the sight of the raw emotions coming from the normally happy and sometime empathetic Zhe. "And because of me, my parents were killed right in front of me."

"Zhe…"

Katara stood in the doorway of the balcony, tears threatening to spill from her sea-blue eyes. Zhe had never seen Katara cried, Spirits _he_ never cried. Yet just telling them small pieces of his former life and he was reduced to a tearful mess. Katara's hand was covering her mouth, she stepped forward towards him.

That was when Zhe cracked. He couldn't deal with this, he shouldn't have said anything. No one knew about his past, he had never let people get close to him before running into these guys. He never wanted to tell people what happened, didn't want to hear people say it wasn't his fault. It _was_ his fault. If he had just been born normal, maybe a nonbender, none of this would of happen. His parents wouldn't have been killed because of one slip up, he wouldn't have witnessed the destruction of his village and home. Zhe backed up, memories of the Event replaying in his head. For one wild second Zhe found himself surrounded by the burning homes of his village, familiar dying grey eyes locking into his own. He could still hear her, his mother's dying voice. _"Run!"_

Zhe did just that, he grabbed his glider that had luckily been leaning against the banister next to him. Before the two Water Tribe siblings could as much as blink the young airbender was already soaring through the air heading to Spirits knew where, since neither were airbenders they couldn't follow him, unless they got Appa.

The two stood shell-shocked at the turn of events, they had always suspected deep down that something in Zhe's past turned sour. But they never realized that it could have been that bad. But both knew, especially Katatra, what Zhe was going through.

They had lost their mother to the Fire Nation who had come looking for the last waterbender that had managed to elude them since the Raids, their mother had protected her youngest and declared herself the last waterbender in the whole South Pole.

By the time Katara returned to their tent with her father hot on her heels it was too late, she was already gone as was her killer.

It was at that moment that Aang strolled in. "There you two are!" He shouted happily, his normal exuberance seemed lost upon the two. It took a moment for Aang to realize something was wrong. His eyes flickered towards each sibling before noticing someone was missing. "Hey, where's Zhe?" Aang asked confused as he looked around for his fellow airbender but to no success.

"We don't know," Katara said breathlessly as she looked into the direction that Zhe had flown to, "he ran off."

"Uh, did something happen? You guys don't look that good," Aang said in concern for his friends, never had he seen them so upset, even Sokka looked a little misty-eyed.

"What are you doing here, shouldn't you be with your fans?" Katara asked harshly, normally she wouldn't have shouted at the innocent Avatar but it was obvious that all her anger at Aang not being the 'simple monk' and with Zhe's past being somewhat revealed to them, she was a bit angry at the moment.

Aang shrunk back at the venom in Katara's voice. "Uhhh, okay something definitely happened. Does this involve Zhe?"

"His parents were killed, Aang." Sokka said softly, whereas Aang stiffened and gasped, his grey eyes getting misty.

"W-What?" Aang asked, his voice breaking, he had always wondered where Zhe's parents were… but to know they had been killed… No wonder Zhe never wanted to talk about his past.

"Right in front of him."

Aang was now openly crying, he may have been a master airbender at the tender age of twelve, the Avatar, master of all four elements, the spiritual bridge between the Spirit World and their world, but he _was_ still twelve. He wasn't even a teenager, he hadn't realized how much the war affected him. The only times the war had ever really affected him in his new life was when he and Katara explored the Fire Navy ship and Zuko attacking the village in order to capture him. But nobody had died during that. He didn't realize then, maybe because of his youth and innocence, but war did take people away. It took Zhe's parents away.

"Where is he?" Aang asked after he calmed himself down, his tears had left and he instead had a look of determination, he would help his friend, whether or not they had just meet, Zhe had become a part of their small tightknit family.

"He went north," Katara pointed in the direction Zhe had gone in. "You can use your glider to catch up, we'll get Appa." The three then split up, with Aang in hot pursuit of his friend and Katara and Sokka rushing to get to Appa.

* * *

Aang found Zhe at the shore. The airbenders back was to him, his shoulders slumped and heaving slightly. Aang stepped forward hesitantly, not knowing if Zhe would try to bolt again.

"… What do you want, Aang?" Zhe asked hoarsely, his voice raw from crying.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Aang asked sadly, as he sat down on the rock Zhe was sitting on. "You could have trusted us. We're your friends, Zhe. And friends stick together."

"Because you guys didn't need to know," Zhe muttered under his breath, his cheeks still wet from the tears that had been locked within him for so long. "I didn't want to be the pity party, what's done is done. I can't bring them back, I can't go back in time, and I still can't save them." Zhe slumped even further. "Its all my fault."

Aang patted the teen on the back, never having been in such a situation. "Hey, its not your fault." Aang said with steel laced in his tone, his eyes just as hard. "Never say it's your fault. Don't blame yourself or think of bad memories, it'll just tie you down and drag you into an ocean of despair."

"The monks taught you that?"

Aang managed a small smile, "Monk Gyatso."

Zhe twitched a small barely noticeable smile before sinking back into his depression. "Aang, you may be the Avatar and know more about certain things than I do, but you're wrong about this." Zhe looked at Aang, grey meeting grey. "It was my fault. I was never allowed to bend without one of my parents watching me and always in the safety of the compound. Since you were still in a block of ice back then, nobody knew what happened to the Avatar, the last airbender." Zhe looked out into the horizon, his eyes fixed on something.

Horror and pain filled Aang, he felt as though some great weight had been placed on his and dragged him down. "They thought you were the Avatar." He suddenly realized.

Zhe was quiet before nodding his head. "They were so sure, and why wouldn't they be? I was the first airbender to pop up in a hundred years, they didn't wait to make sure. They just decided to burn down my village, kill my family and friends, before coming after me." Zhe's hands clenched into tight fists. "And you know what I did, Aang? When I saw for the first time the killer of my people, my nonbender mother, my aging and rusty bending father?" He asked the bald monk softly, Aang shook his head in negative. "I _ran._" His fists trembled before Zhe stood up abruptly. "I RAN!" Zhe punched the air in frustration, creating a large whirlwind to form in the ocean. "I was a coward, I should have done something, anything! But I ran," Zhe was crying again, but he couldn't help it. "I ran… I ran…"

Aang felt like crying too, Zhe didn't deserve that. It was Aang's fault, not Zhe's. _He _was the one who had ran, if he hadn't maybe he could of helped fend off the Fire Nation, then a hundred years later nobody would attack Zhe because he thought he was the Avatar just because he was an airbender.

"Zhe, if you hadn't run away you would have been captured and probably killed." Aang said in hope he would calm the teen down and maybe help with the guilt. "What you're feeling is survivors guilt, I know that running away isn't always the best way, but for this situation it was." Aang placed his hand on his shoulder, idly wondering if being the Avatar had the perks of calming down teenagers who had their childhood and innocence ripped away from them.

"Maybe I should of stayed, maybe I could have taken at least one of them down with me," Zhe muttered darkly.

Aang's eyes widened, since he had been taught by the monks he never believed in killing, especially for revenge. But Zhe hadn't been raised by the monks, he had to pretty much raise himself after his parents were killed, and this war didn't help matters. Zhe probably had no one to rely on until they had popped up, Aang couldn't understand the pain of living alone with only Aka for comfort in the ruins of your people, knowing that the killer of your parents and people still walked the land. Aang wouldn't have sought for revenge, but would Zhe?

"Zhe, I know your upset and I can totally agree with you, Spirits I actually understand you better than you know. But revenge never ends good, by the end when you try to dig their grave your just making your own."

"You don't understand, Aang. I need to kill the man who ruined my life, I have to. I owe it to my parents, I need to avenge them. The town I lived in was a peaceful town, it was small and never caused any problems. I was just born in it, and I destroyed it." Zhe shook his head. "I know people say revenge isn't good, but for me it's the only way for me to achieve peace within myself. I can't let my parent's sacrifice be in vain."

Aang sighed, "Just promise me this vendetta wont consume you." He pleaded, his doe-like grey eyes seemed to widen to enormous lengths, making it impossible for Zhe to refuse his request. "… Sure." Zhe chuckled, "I probably never will get revenge, I don't even know who the man was. I just remember his face."

"You need to be cheered up!" Aang said brightly, his inner Air Nomad coming out. "Whenever I was in a bad mood, Monk Gyatso would always make fruit pies. I bet we could whip some up, I'm sure we could find the ingredients at the market.

Zhe couldn't help but chuckle, the tears were gone, evaporated by Aang's sunny personality. "You know, this is the first time I've cried in six years. You probably think I'm a wuss now."

Aang shook his head fervently, "No way. You're one of the strongest people I know, and I have Appa." The younger airbender exclaimed as he warmly thought of his large fuzzy life companion.

The two turned their heads when they heard a low familiar groan, Appa had landed on the shore. Katara and Sokka quickly hopped off. "You found him!" Katara said as she rushed towards the airbenders. She quickly gave Zhe a hug, who was too emotionally drained to do anything, and gave Aang a hug as well.

"Never run off like that again!" Katara couldn't help but mother hen.

"Katara, he flew off, he didn't run off."

Katara whacked Sokka on the elbow, "Be quiet, Sokka. Just because you have the sensitivity of a sea prune doesn't mean we all do." The young Waterbender scolded her brother who just grumbled under his breath.

Despite feeling as though he had been torn apart emotionally Zhe couldn't help but chuckle, only those two Water Triber's bickering could make him feel better.

Katara placed her hand on Zhe's other shoulder, Aang still had his hand on the other, and looked at the boy with warmth in her bright blue eyes. "You don't have to tell us what happened," she whispered to Zhe though the entire group heard her clearly. "You seem to think that we'll judge you, for what ever happened, but we wont. I understand that you don't want to say anything. But we're the same. All of us have lost loved ones to the Fire Nation… I saw my mother die before me too," Katara said as a stray tear went down her cheek. "We're your family, Zhe. You, me, Aang, and Sokka, we're all a family now. You don't have to be alone anymore, none of us do."

Zhe nodded his head, a small smile twitching at his lips. Aang held his arms as wide as he could, his eyes sparkling as he looked at the huddled group with a wanting look. Zhe rolled his eyes at Katara who smiled at what Aang wanted before having a group hug, Sokka joining in before Katara could yell at him. All of a sudden the four were suddenly drenched in spit as Appa's huge tongue managed to lick them, their protests and Aang's laughter ringing on the shore.

* * *

Several days had passed since that incident that had ended up with Zhe finally feeling at peace within himself, at least as much as he could with the thought of his parent's murder still on the loose. Zhe had finally started to get closer to the others much faster than he had before, back before the incident he had always been a bit weary due to his years as an orphan airbender during the War, but now that he had friends, a family, he felt himself slowly healing.

_Perhaps it had been the fruit pies,_ Zhe thought with a small chuckle as he fondly remembered when Aang had decided to show him what he deemed one of the most sacred arts of the Air Nomad culture.

_Aang and Zhe were in a small kitchen that had been granted to the Avatar and his friends by a humble and honored chef, Aang had humbly bowed to and thanked the man for his assistance for allowing them to use the kitchen as well as the ingredients._

"_Now, my dear young pupil,"_ _Aang started to say with the air of a wise and aged monk, even though he was already covered head to toe with flour, even though they had yet to get the flour out for the fruit pies._

_Zhe sighed in exasperation. "Aang, I'm technically older than you biologically." He reminded the young Avatar who was indeed technically younger than him, the fact that Zhe was easily a head taller and more broader in the shoulder than Aang also served as a good point._

_Aang scowled at the airbender's jab and pointed his finger at Zhe accusingly, "But I'm technically one hundred and twelve years old. Just because I was in a giant hunk of ice doesn't mean I can't say I'm older. I _am."_ Aang finished with a huff._

_Zhe laughed before giving Aang a deep and exaggerated bow. "Oh, excuse me Master Aang, oh mighty conqueror of the elements. Don't annihilate me with your baking skills!" The airbender pretended to quiver in mock horror and fear._

_Aang's scowl was instantly wiped away as he laughed, his sides aching. Zhe soon followed, and anyone passing by would of thought the last airbenders have gone crazy._

"_So, how do I make the esteemed and iconic fruit pies of the Air Nomads?" Zhe asked Aang who was already getting out chicken duck eggs and goat cow milk from the ice cooler and was balancing them in his arms, his tongue sticking out in concentration._

_Aang beamed at Zhe. "Just watch the master do his work!" The boy exclaimed happily as he double checked all the ingredients, when he saw that they had everything he clapped his hands and rubbed them eagerly. "I feel like I haven't had a fruit pie in years…" Aang laughed as he realized something, "Or I guess you could say a whole century."_

"_Well I've never had an Air Nomad fruit pie in my whole life," Zhe reminded Aang, "Though I did learn to never put Flaming Fire Flakes in a pie and put it in the oven."_

"_What happened?" Aang asked Zhe curiously, remembering the spicy flakes that were so hot they were capable of even a nonbender to breath fire even for a short moment due to their hotness back when he had them one hundred years ago when he visited the Fire Nation, then a peaceful country, with his friend Kuzon._

_Zhe winced as he remembered before scratching the back of his head sheepishly, making his unruly spiky hair even more unruly, "Well for one it kinda… exploded," He said somewhat lamely. "My mom was not happy to see the kitchen in ruins, my hair nearly on fire, my eyebrows singed off, and the pie I had tried to make sticking to the ceiling."_

_There was a moments pause… And Aang was suddenly on the ground laughing so hard he was clutching his sides as he rolled left and right, his feet kicking at the air as he struggled to regain his breath._

_Zhe's eye twitched. "It's not that funny!" He defended himself with a huff, refusing to look at his friend who was _still_ laughing at him!_

_Aang choked a little as he tried to regain his breath, after a moment or so Aang cracked a grin at his fellow airbender. "It is funny!" He crowed as he tried to stifle the giggles while Zhe glared at him. "Remind me whenever we're in an evil firebender's kitchen, we'll leave him a surprise in his pie." Aang cocked his head to the side before his smile nearly cracked his face, "Hey, that rhymed!"_

_Zhe resisted the urge to bang his head against the stone wall. "Do you ever take anything seriously?" He asked the bald monk with a dead pan._

_Aang cocked his head to the side again as he pondered that. "Uhh, not really."  
_

"_Perfect," Zhe muttered with a small groan._

_Aang got back to his feet as he had the air hit his back and raise him up. Brushing his robes that were still covered in flour the young airbender looked at the other airbender before grabbing an odd assortment of fruits of different shapes, sizes, and colors._

"_Hmm, what flavor should we do?" Aang mused as he inspected the fruits with a critical eye, as though he was picking a prized racing ostrich horse. He looked at Zhe, "What flavor do you want?" He asked with a smile, "A new taster should always have a say in the most amazing thing he will ever eat in his life."_

_Zhe shrugged his shoulders, "You can pick. You actually know what flavors the Air Nomads had back then, so you should pick. I don't care as long as I get a slice."_

_Aang snapped his fingers when he decided. "I got it! We'll do a Moon Peach and a Lychee Nut pie!" he turned his head to Zhe, his eyes wide and twinkling with barely concealed joy and excitement. "Ready to learn more about your airbending roots?"_

_Zhe grinned despite himself, "You bet!"_

The dark-haired teen couldn't help but chuckle as he fondly remembered how Aang taught him how to bake a traditional Air Nomad fruit pie. From how long to keep it in the oven, how to use airbending to keep the crust nice and flaky, and of course using airbending to make the fruit custard stand up with its traditional swirl.

Despite being careful, the two airbenders did make quite the mess. It was hard to airbend in such a small room surrounded by flour and other ingredients that would fly away at the most gentle of breezes. Still the two had fun, the only thing that could have been funner was penguin sledding, but seeing as Zhe had never gone only Aang knew the joy of riding a penguin down a sheer slope, Aang promised his friend that once they were done in the North Pole they would find more otter penguins and ride them in the North Pole. Surely Sokka and Katara's sister Tribe had fun too, right?

What happened after the pies were baked and cooled was the best part for them, for Sokka not so much.

_Aang and Zhe had carried the two pies out of the kitchen and into the main hut they were staying in with utmost care, making sure that nothing would ruin the baked perfections they were holding in their hands. Nobody tried to get in their way, though a couple turned their heads in the direction, either at the airbenders themselves or the heavenly scent that wafted throughout the village due to the pies._

_Once they reached their temporary room Aang motioned for Zhe to place his pie on the window still next to his own, the pie Aang was holding was a pale yet somehow elegant violet color, the smell of baked moon peaches wafting into the room. That with its golden crust nearly made the two salivate at the thought of nibbling into the delectable pies._

_The pie Zhe was carrying was dark red, or crimson in Zhe's opinion. Like the other pie, the dark red custard was raised in the air due to airbending and was still suspended in its form, the whole cream was swirled and seemed to keep its airbending roots within the desert itself. The smell of baked Lychee Nut was nearly enough to have Aka and Momo (who had entered the room the second they smelled the pie) into trying to devour both the pies._

"_So, now what? Do we just eat it?" Zhe asked Aang who still looked like he had something else up his sleeve. _

_Aang used his airbending to cut two large slices out of the Lychee Nut pie before turning around to face Zhe. "There is another part of the traditional and sacred art of pie baking, and that is this." Aang whispered in Zhe's ear about the other piece, Zhe's eyes widened before his grin matched Aang's._

_Zhe grabbed the Moon Peach pie and placed it on the table with the two slices of Lychee Nut pie, the rest of the dark red pie still rested on the window still._

"_One," Aang stated as both benders started to channel wind to their palms._

"_Two." By now they both formed a large ball of condensed wind within their finger tips._

"_Three!" Aang yelled and both benders let their air balls fly and watched them hit the Lychee pie, sending it flying into the sky thanks to the boost of the airbenders. Zhe and Aang rushed to the banister and watched the dark spot high in the sky start to get bigger and bigger as the pie started to descend._

"_I have a really good feeling about this, Katara." Sokka was saying to his younger sister as they walked back to the hut they were staying at. "I'm going to ask Suki if she can teach me, surely if I apologize she'll let me, right?"_

"_I don't know, Sokka." Katara said worriedly, "They aren't like Aang and Zhe, their culture doesn't revolve on forgiving that much, and even I wouldn't forgive you that easily if you weren't my brother. I don't want you to get hurt. Maybe you could ask Aang to apologize for you since you're, well you know, not good at apologizing?" She added weakly when Sokka sent her a glare._

"_I don't need Aang. Besides he and Zhe are doing some sort of Air Nomad bonding thing, probably mediating or something weird and boring like that," Sokka said with a wave as his hand._

_Then the two Water Tribe members heard something, Sokka suddenly realized that there was a shadow on his even though he wasn't near any trees._

_SPLAT!_

_The pie crashed into Sokka, covering the young warrior head to shoulder in the creamy red custard. Almost immediately Aka and Momo appeared and tried to lick off the residue of the pie. "Ahh! I'm bleeding!" Sokka cried as he tried to scratch off what he assumed was blood before looking at Momo and Aka. "Ah, Momo and Aka are vampire bats, but in furry form!" The boy cried out as he tried to shoo the animals off of him, unknowingly opening his mouth and his tongue hitting his flailing hand. Sokka paused as he tasted the red substance, "Hey, wait a minute…" Sokka licked his hand, smacking his mouth as he tried to figure out the taste. Realization struck him, "This is some type of berry sauce!" He declared aloud._

_Katara resisted the heavy urge to hit her boneheaded brother. "Something falls from the sky and douses you in a mysterious red substance and you just _lick_ it off of your hand!" The girl yelled at him in disbelief._

"_Well I'd like the option," Sokka started to say before he heard a familiar laugh high above him, joined in by another familiar voice. Once again realization struck the boomerang user. Sokka's tanned face turned bright red, if he had been a firebending then the custard covering him would have been boiling and melting off of him. "AANG! ZHE!"_

_The two airbenders immediately stopped laughing, both looked at each other before Aang yelled, "RUN!" And with that the two airbenders disappeared a small puff of cloud and a trail of dust the only remains of their existence and where they were headed._

_Nonbender or not, Sokka gave chase to the two, all the while yelling how when he caught them he would show them just how much pain a nonbender of the Southern Water Tribe could give to them._

Luckily the two monks had managed to calm down the fuming Sokka and offered him the olive branch, which was in the form of a slice of pie. The food lover immediately forgave them when he had a bite, declaring that they could make as many pies as they wanted too, as long as they changed the target to Katara instead of him.

Katara immediately whacked the boy on the head while Aang and Zhe laughed.

Zhe felt something furry crawl up his arm, a little pink tongue licked his cheeks while Zhe scratched the back of Aka's ears, the little ferret purred as he hit a certain spot.

"Zhe!" Aang suddenly ran into the room, a broad grin on his face, "Guess what!?"

Zhe raised a brow at the energetic airbender. "Please tell me it doesn't involve fan girls and that marble trick," He sighed wearily.

Aang shook his head, "No something else. Sokka's wearing a dress!"

"Sokka… In a dress?" Zhe tilted his head in confusion, "Did spending a century in that block of ice mess up something in your head?"

Aang ignored the jab and instead pointed at a lone dojo high up the mountain, "Looks like Sokka took your advice. He went to go see those Kyoshi Warrios and they agreed to show him how to fight, but he still has to wear the dress and make-up."

Zhe laughed at the thought of Sokka in the forest green garb complete with fan and make-up, it did give him a funny sight. Zhe grabbed his glider and spun it around a couple of times before the orange fabric showed, "I'm going to go fly, this place has some great currents."

Aang gave the boy a wave, "See ya later, Zhe."

Zhe nodded before taking off and rose into the air. He circled around the small village a couple of times, some of the villagers pointing at him in awe, before turning around and heading towards the highest mountain.

After a couple or so minutes of flying Zhe arrived on the summit of Mount Kyoshi, a small smoothed slab of rock protruded from the tip of the summit. Zhe landed there before getting down and sitting in a meditative form, his glider resting on his knees.

Zhe felt the sunlight hitting his face and inhaled, enjoying the warmth of the sun. For awhile he merely sat there almost in a trance, his form relaxed and free of any tension.

Zhe opened his eyes and took in the view, since he was at the highest point on the island he could see everything. From the small collection of huts that formed the village they had been staying in, he could even faintly see the stark white fur of Appa in the distance, the ocean surrounded him, and he could see the bay where they had arrived in.

He understood why the Kyoshi islanders wished to stay neutral, none of them really had any ties to either the Fire Nation or the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes, and none of them would really come here. While a beautiful island, they only had enough resources to feed themselves, no army would think of wasting soldiers to take this lone island when they have their own mortal enemies to worry about.

Zhe suddenly tensed when he saw something in the bay, a large something rising from the water, its form serpent-like and it seemed to be shaking as though trying to throw something off.

Deciding to investigate Zhe leapt off of the mountain range as he opened up his glider, thanks to his downward momentum and having no headwinds the young airbender managed to reach the bay in record time, anyone on the ground would of merely seen an orange blur.

What Zhe saw terrified him. A monstrous serpent creature with scales as dark as night and golden gills had emerged from the bay, when Zhe saw the dorsal fin he realized _that _was what had chased him and Aang out of the bay barely a week or so ago. With eyes that seemed to burn into him, the creature, which Zhe realized had to be the Unagi, was intelligent and looked furious.

The reason?

Aang was currently hanging on one of the whiskers of the beast for dear life, his yells echoing throughout the bay. Glancing down Zhe saw Katara standing at the coast, Zhe snapped his attention to Aang when he saw that the Unagi had managed to shake the Avatar off.

"Aang, grab on!" Zhe yelled as he swooped down, his hand held out to grab the quickly falling Aang.

Aang reached for Zhe, their hands met but Aang's hand slipped out of Zhe's grasp.

"AANG!" Both Zhe and Katara yelled as they watched him fall, Zhe quickly swooping down after him.

Aang hit the water with a sickening splash, he slowly floated back up, clearly unconscious. Katara immediately started to try and wade into the ocean after him. "Katara! Don't! I got him!" Zhe yelled towards the waterbender while the Unagi screeched in triumph and rushed towards the downed twelve-year-old to make him its dinner.

"Oh no you don't!" Zhe swooped down towards the unconscious Aang, the Unagi not that fall behind, it was only luck and skill that Zhe reached him first. He grabbed Aang by his pants and used all of his airbending skills to send him back into the sky.

The Unagi reared its head, now eye level to the conscious and unconscious airbenders, Zhe quickly dodged the quick bite that would would've eaten both of the whole and rushed towards the beach, the wind stinging his eyes and he silently willed his glider to go faster.

Katara pushed at the water, sending a large wave that managed to slightly push away the Unagi, allowing Zhe to land in the beach. Katara rushed over to Aang, who wasn't breathing.

"Zhe, we're not safe here!" Katara said as the Unagi growled at them, Zhe grabbed Aang and piggy-backed him towards a large formation of rocks, Katara close behind him.

The Unagi screeched in fury of losing its prey, large and deadly jets of ocean water erupted from its maw, with the force to destroy a house the water crashed into the rock, which was luckily well fortified to stop the attacks.

Zhe quickly laid Aang flat on his back, his eyes wide in panic when he realized that Aang hadn't even moved and he wasn't even breathing. He quickly looked frantically at Katara, "Can you do anything?"

Katara leaned over the unconscious boy, she closed her eyes for a second as her hand trailed from Aang's stomach, up his throat, and a small amount of water floated its way out of his mouth. For a second nothing happened, then Aang started to hack and cough.

Aang slowly opened his eyes to see the relieved benders bending over him. "K-Katara?" He asked, his voice hoarse from the salt water. "Don't ride the Unagi. Not fun."

"I need to put a bell on you," Zhe said as he shook his head, "Make sure you don't do something so stupid again."

Aang slowly focused on him. "Zhe?" Aang managed a small smile, "You saved my life."

Zhe chuckled. "Thank miss waterbender over there, she managed to get the water out of you. I just got you out of the water, though I was nearly made into a snack for that Unagi."

"Thank you," Aang said wearily, completely exhausted from the whole ordeal.

Zhe glanced over the rocks and saw the Unagi going back into the murky deep, he immediately gasped as he saw the unmistakable form of a Fire Nation cruiser making its way to the beach. "I don't want to alarm anyone, but there is currently a Fire Nation battleship making its way towards us."

"What!?" Katara gasped as she came to Zhe's side. Her eyes widened when she saw the familiar ship. "Zuko!"

"Who?"

"It's a long story, Zhe. We'll tell you about it later," Katara said worriedly as she realized why Zuku was here. For Aang.

The two watched as the ship docked at the beach and three komodo rhinos lumbered out, soldiers on their back. The three were silent as they heard them riding above them, Aang tried to move but Zhe and Katara pushed him down. "Not yet, Aang." Zhe hissed as he heard the rumbles of the mounts, "There are too many of them and you almost just became a snack for the Unagi."

"They're going to the village," Aang said with wide eyes, "It's Katara and Sokka's village all over again."

Aang tried to stand up but Zhe pushed him down, Aang glared at the boy but was met with a glare of equal ferocity. "You're hurt, Aang. I'll deal with this. I was too weak when the Fire Nation burned down my village, but now I'm stronger and I can fight back. I don't want anymore orphans and refugees to be created, I don't want anymore me's… I can do this." And with that said and done Zhe grabbed his glider and flew after the Fire Nation soldiers.

* * *

"Come out, Avatar! You can't hide forever!" Prince Zuko yelled from atop his Komodo Rhino, two others flanking him with benders and nonbenders on them.

The normally boisterous village had turned into a ghost town as the villagers saw Fire Nation soldiers for the first time ride into their home. They watched from locked doors and windows, waiting for the Avatar or the Kyoshi warriors to save them.

"Find him," Zuko commanded his men, who ushered their beasts forward.

Suddenly there were flashes of green and gold, and the men were thrown from their mounts. The Kyoshi warriors had arrived.

Suki rushed towards Zuko, who used his fire bending to try and kill her, but with speed and agility that would of made Zhe and Aang proud she managed to easily dodge it. She leapt into the air, her fans poised to knock the banished prince from the mount, but the Komodo's tail hit her and sent her crashing into the ground.

Zuko shot another fire blast at the downed warrior, but she was saved by none other than Sokka, who was decked in the traditional Kyoshi Warrior dress and makeup, though he was now short one fan as he had used it to stop the fire blast.

Before Zuko could do anything he suddenly found himself on the ground, another warrior had jumped off the roof and kicked him in the chest, sending him crashing into the ground.

Suki, Sokka, and the other warrior surrounded the prince, who used his upper body strength to twist his feet in a full circle, sending the warrior crashing into the house, Suki into the post, and Sokka on the ground.

By now most of the village houses had caught on fire, black smoke billowing everywhere. Zuko glanced around to see that Aang had yet to appear, "Nice try, Avatar. But these little girls can't stop me!"

In reply a large gust of wind smacked into his chest sending him crashing into a house. Zuko got back up a little sore for wear but nothing he couldn't handle, his hands now covered in the deadly flame that was his element he turned in the direction he knew that the Avatar was in…

But instead of seeing the young little bald monk with the tattoos, he instead saw a young boy a year or so younger than him with dark spiky hair and pale skin, no baldness and no tattoos. What caught his attention was the staff in his hand, similar to the Avatar's.

"If you think you can just raze a village to the ground without me stopping it, well you got another thing coming to you!" The boy exclaimed his grey eyes seemed to be miniature storm clouds as he looked at the disgraced prince.

"Who are-" Zuko started to say before the strange newcomer suddenly took a larger than possible breath before breathing out, a huge gust of wind erupted from his mouth, blasting the prince back into the house, burning timber falling on him.

With a cry of fury the timber exploded as Zuko stood up, flames erupting from his mouth as his anger got the best of him. He glared at Zhe, his amber eyes burning as bright as the sun that gave him the ability to bend fire.

"Aang was raised by the monks, he was taught that violence was always bad and never fight to kill or hurt," The boy said before looking at Zuko with a leveled glare, "But I wasn't raised by the monks."

Zuko's eyes, one nearly closed, widened as he realized what the boy was saying. "You… You're an airbender?" He asked, disbelief ringing in his tone.

"What gave it away?" Zhe spun around in a circle, his hands on his staff as though it was a bat, he swung and a large arc of wind headed towards Zuko who managed to jump high enough to dodge it.

"How is this possible," Zuko said as he circled the airbender who followed his movements, his staff ready to either defend or attack. "I spent three years looking for the Avatar, an airbender. How did I not find you?" He asked more to himself than to Zhe.

"Did you try the Temples?" Zhe asked sarcastically.

Zuko glared at him, "It doesn't matter. I know you exist now, once I capture you I'll go after your fellow airbender, and once my father sees that not only I captured the Avatar but the last of the airbenders, I will have my honor back!"

Zhe faked a yawn. "Are you done yet?" He asked with an air of boredom.

Zuko growled before shooting fire at him, the size easily around the size of the rocks they use for catapults.

Zhe jumped up into the air and spun his glider around in a circular motion, allowing him a couple seconds in the air, before Zuko kicked upwards and a large wave of fire came towards him.

Suddenly water from the barrels rose and hit the fire, steam rose and covered the battle scene for a couple seconds. When the steam had disappeared the two benders saw that it had been Katara who had come to Zhe's rescue.

"Thanks for the save," Zhe said to Katara who, while panting slightly at bending such a large amount of water, looked proud of herself. "No problem, Zhe." She said.

"Well, well, well if it isn't the Water Tribe peasant," Zuko sneered at the bender who glared at him with hatred in her bright blue eyes, he was the one who had attacked her village after all and now he was doing it again.

Zuko punched his right hand and a large torrent of fire came from his knuckles, the large ball of fire headed straight towards Katara before it was thrown off track by the timely whack of Zhe's staff.

"Katara, go make sure everyone is safe, I got this," Zhe told the girl who looked like she wanted to protest before she nodded her head and dashed off into the burning homes, making sure everyone had gotten to safety.

"I don't know why you want Aang, but he's my friend. And I don't let Fire Nation take my friends," Zhe told the boy who could only be older than him by about a year, Zhe's eyes were squinted in concentration, for some reason that he couldn't put his finger on it, the attacker in front of him looked familiar.

Zuko clenched his hands into tight fists, fire taking the shape of daggers. Zhe held his staff tightly, for a second there was only the sound of burning timber before a wind started to breeze through lightly, sending dust swirling.

Both benders charged forward at the same time, Zuko's hands held as though he was about to stab Zhe with his fire daggers, Zuko swung his hand but Zhe dodged it. The tip of the fire dagger nearly nicking the spikes of hair on his head.

Zhe twirled his staff, but Zuko managed to move his head at the last second, preventing himself from getting whacked in the head, but that didn't stop Zhe's foot from colliding into his jaw though, for added effort Zhe had channeled air to help blast Zuko backwards.

Zuko fell to the ground with a dull thud, his helmet falling off his head and bouncing a couple times before rolling face up. Zuko pushed himself up and balanced on his hands as he used both his feet to kick towards Zhe, a large torrent of fire was unleashed and headed towards the young bender.

Zhe sucked in a large amount of air before blowing it out, the wind effectively putting out the fire.

Zuko's one good eye widened when he saw one of his most powerful and deadly attacks be stopped by something as simple as breathing, that and the dull ache of his ribs that signified they may have been broken. He stumbled to his feet, his arm pressed against his side.

"You're different from the Avatar," Zuko said through gritted teeth. "Your fighting style is different, more direct and forceful."

"I told you, I wasn't raised by the Air Nomads, you wiped them out, remember?" Zhe said with a scowl. "I had to learn my own way, I won't hold back like Aang."

The two benders stopped their fighting, instead both just looked at one another, both gazes calculating as they tried to plan their next, and final, move.

Zhe rushed towards the crowned prince, his staff held high in the air, Zuko rushed forward as well, fire burning in his palms. Zhe swung downwards while Zuko punched, the two elements of air and fire collided and immediately an inferno of deadly size and ferocity was created.

Both benders were thrown backwards, Zhe hit the ground and rolled over a couple of times before he slid to a half, Zuko on the other hand collided into a ruined house.

Both benders were gasping for breath, Zhe's hand slowly twitched towards the staff at his side.

And then suddenly Appa appeared above them, "Zhe!" They could faintly hear Katara yell to the airbender, "We have to go!"

Zhe threw his glider into the air and jumped and grabbed the sides, he flew up to Appa and landed in the saddle. Everyone was on the bison, Aang guiding the giant bison while Katara and Sokka were huddled in the back, Momo and Aka sitting on their laps.

Immediately Aka chittered something and rushed towards his friend, Zhe smiled wearily as Aka licked him. "Hey there buddy." Zhe and the others glanced down to see the still burning village below them.

"It's all my fault," Aang stated, tears forming in the great pools of his eyes. His eyes focused on the burning statue of Avatar Kyoshi.

"You did the right thing in leaving. Zuko would have killed everyone had we stayed, they're going to be okay, Aang." Katara assured the distraught Avatar.

Aang looked ahead for a second before something flashed in his eyes, and the next thing the others knew was that Aang had leapt from Appa's head and was heading towards the bay that sheltered the Unagi at the speed of an arrow.

"Please tell me he didn't just jump off Appa," Zhe yelled as they rushed to the edge of the saddle, they couldn't see Aang as he had disappeared underwater.

The water where Aang had dived in rippled, and suddenly the Unagi itself emerged from within the ocean, its serpent like body nearly as high as Appa. And on its head was Avatar Aang who held the two whiskers as though they were the same reins he used for Appa.

With a great deal of effort Aang pulled the whiskers back and a large jet of water erupted from the Unagi's maw, dousing the burning village and effectively putting out the fire.

The Unagi reared its head and Aang went sailing into the air, only to be caught by Appa.

Aang climbed up his spirit companion's flank and sat down on the saddle, dripping wet from the ocean. "I know I know," Aang started to say as he sat down. "That was stupid and dangerous."

"Yes, it was," Katara said though she was smiling. Suddenly Katara lunged forward and engulfed the boy in a hug, Aang breathed a sigh of relief though Zhe was the only one to notice the blush.

"So, where are we going next?" Sokka asked Aang as he looked at the map. "Are we going to go to Kangaroo Island like you planned?"

Aang thought for a second before shaking his head, "No, I don't want to see if the wallaby's have evolved into giant man eating rodents. I think we're done with the small detours."

"So, then where are we headed to next?" Zhe asked before looking at his burned clothes that had been scorched by Zuko. "Please tell me it's a place I can get some new clothes."

"Don't worry, this city has it." Aang said beaming at them. "Its one of the greatest cities in the world, its an Earth Kingdom stronghold that I used to visit a hundred years ago. We're going to the city of Omashu!"

**So, how did you like the little look into Zhe's past. More will be explained as the story progresses, what happened? Who are Zhe's parents? Who killed them? **

**Hope you liked my version of the Warriors of Kyoshi, which is one of my favorite episodes of the whole series. And for those wondering, no Zhe and Katara will not be paired. I'm a die hard Kataang fan, Zhe and Katara will have a close relationship though. **


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